UNITY BANK, OTHERS FINANCE LEKKI PROJECT
The on-going 'La Plage' Lekki Business District project in Lagos State has received a N5.5 billion facility boost from Unity Bank Plc, the project's developers - Uren Stirling Civil Engineering Limited – said.
The company's head of marketing services, Mrs. Temitope Opeaye, said that the bank was the major financier of the project which total cost has been put at N10 billion.
Others are Standard Chartered Bank, GTHomes and FBN Mortgages, she explained.
With the bank's facility approval, construction work at the site will peak for its completion in 20 months, she said.
Located at the Lekki Maiyegun tourism zone of Lagos, the business district will comprise of 4,007 shops and 320 officers. Mrs. Opeaye said that the shops are being sold ''off plan at a discounted rate till January 2011.''
She added that individuals, cooperatives and businesses are welcome to be one of the first owners of shops at the new business district, stating that mortgages are available to qualified purchasers through Standard Chartered Bank, GTHomes and FBN Morgages.
Mrs. Opeaye disclosed that 10 hectares of land had been acquired by the company for the project which, according to her, is also being supported by the Lagos Water Front Development Authority.
The marketing executive said that the company would also provide in the district a multi-storey car park, a loading bay, refuse and waste treatment plant, entertainment lounge, restaurant, a games arcade and a high-tech security system.
The district would be serviced with a 24-hour electricity supply from the company's proposed 32 million-Dollar independent private gas power plant which, according to her, would generate 20 megawatts of electricity.
The power project, Mrs. Opeaye explained, will be financed by the company's overseas partners.
She described as amazing the response of potential shop buyers to the project which, she added, would totally change the landscape of the Lekki coastal zone which still lacks adequate business, industrial and retail accommodation for its teeming population.
Under the second phase of the project, she also said, the company plans to build a five-star hotel, residential estates and a recreation park.
Mrs. Opeaye explained that the project was in line with the Lagos State government's drive to develop world-class infrastructure along the Lekki corridor to promote greater economic activities among its citizenry.
She also said that the business district, when operational, will help reduce the enormous traffic problems being daily witnessed on the Lekki road as residents in the area would be able to do their businesses without necessarily going to Lagos and Victoria Islands.
Mrs. Opeaye said that Uren Stirling Construction company has more than 40 years experience in construction and property development in Nigeria.
'We are a tested and trusted property developer with adequate capacity to deliver on promise and we are ready and empowered to transform the face of the Lekki axis ,' she concluded.