By Dayo Ayeyemi
NO fewer than 1,800 members of the Electrical Materials Dealers Association presently in Okija in Port Harcourt will be relocating to their permanent site at Iriebe, Kilometre 17, Aba-Port Harcourt Road in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Already, 600 lock-up shops out of the total 1,720 completed are ready for occupation by the traders.
Briefing the Property and Environment Writers Association of Nigeria (PEWAN), in Lagos, the Principal Partner, M. I. Okoro & Associates, Dr Innocent Okoro, said that in addition to the 1,720 lock-up shops being developed, the traders would be provided warehouses where their goods will be stored for easy distribution while visiting customers can load and off-load goods within the warehouses and transport them to different parts of the country.
The shopping complex is being developed by Revelation Paints Limited as a model for others.
Okoro explained that as the developer completed the 600 lock-up shops in the first phase, works are ongoing to develop more shops in phases to enable the electrical materials dealers settle down fully for business in the new site.
“There will also be restaurants located at various convenient points within the complex so that traders and their customers will find it easy to eat and save time. Apart from a toilet facility in several places, electricity supply in the new complex will be a combination of solar and independent energy supply from private sector driven arrangement,” he said.
In addition, he explained that provisions have been made for banking halls and other offices to support business operations in the «Promised Land» which were lacking in the present Okija location.
The new Electrical and Building Materials City, the principal partner, M.I.Okoro and Associates said would be commissioned for business activities within the first week in April, 2023.
Besides, he said there was an arrangement to organise a purpose Investment Golf Tournament in the Port Harcourt Club 1928 on March 30, 2023 with a view to attracting possible investors.
According to Okoro, the General Overseer of OPM, Apostle Chibuzor Gift Chinyere, would also feature one-day crusade at the new Revelation›s Electrical/Building Materials City to usher in dealers to their new site.
Okoro, whose firm is the sole marketer of the shopping complex, implored members of the public to buy into the project, describing it as a unique investment opportunity due to the required little capital outlay for the real estate investment.
He explained that Polaris Bank Ltd would be on ground to support buyers with mortgage facility up to 80 per cent.
“Members of the public are being encouraged to invest in this shopping complex now because once the businessmen from Okija move to the new location, then competition for space will become more competitive because lock-up shops will become very limited in supply and there will be constantly rising demand for them and the price will continue to rise.
“Whoever that invest in it now will know that he or she is investing in a viable real estate investment,” he said.
According to Okoro, the promotional price for the shops, which will last till April is between N4.5 million for ground-floor and N4 million for 1st floor.
He added that a subscriber would need to buy a form as Polaris Bank is willing to give 80 percent mortgage as soon as the buyer pays the initial equity of 20 per cent of the cost.
Director General on Strategy and Operations, M. I. Okoro & Associates, Chief Chinedu Mbakwe, promised to liaise with the businessmen for comprehensive reconciliation of the process for easy flow of movement by the traders to their new site and acquisition of shops.
As a way of sensitising the investing public to buy into the available lock-up shops, he hinted that Polaris Bank Limited, executive of the Electrical Materials Dealers Association, M. I. Okoro & Associates, and Osas & Oseji & Co. would be organising a golf tournament in the Port Harcourt Golf Club for the purpose.
Chairman of PEWAN, Mrs Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie, noted that the organisation has partnered several groups in the sector with a primary motive of building and growing the sector, including educating the public as journalists and driving the agenda for policy makers.
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