BENIN CITY – The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said the state government is intensifying efforts aimed at developing new cities and towns as part of its urban renewal schemes.
The governor said this in a statement to commemorate World Habitat Day, celebrated every first Monday of October or October 5 by the United Nations Habitat and its sister agencies.
Obaseki said the state government has undertaken key policy decisions to develop new urban areas across the state, with the revamp of the Edo Development and Property Agency (EDPA) and the commencement of work on a wholistic urban and regional development plan to provide direction on government’s intervention in the built environment sector.
According to him, “As we mark the World Habitat Day with the theme, Housing For All: A Better Urban Future, I reiterate our commitment to building new towns to provide room for new developments, control population and open up new areas to private real estate investment. We have earmarked new areas for development and have commenced work on new estates in different parts of the state in partnership with private actors, with the ultimate aim of expanding the city and pulling in more investment in the real estate sector.”
The governor noted that the Edo State Geographic Information Service (EdoGIS) has been instrumental in mapping out new areas for development and providing a robust land management system that ensures that transactions in land assets in the new areas are done to meet international best practices, which is providing guarantee for more private players in the state’s real estate sector.
Noting that government was also providing the right infrastructure to drive the urbanization process, he said, “We are developing new towns and building roads that have opened up new communities. This is evident in the work done on the Irhirhi-Aruogba-Obazagbon-Oke-Oroma-Obagienevbosa-Ogheghe-Sapele Road.”
