Government picks nine properties for pilot maintenance scheme
The Federal government has picked nine buildings for pilot maintenance under its national maintenance framework on public buildings in the country.
The buildings selected include, a Federal government college, a Federal Hospital, a Federal Court building, a federal prison, a federal secretariat and the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing office buildings at its headquarters in Mabushi among others.
Minister for Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola who stated this at press conference in Abuja, explained that after decades of lack of policy, the federal government has given approval for the commencement of national maintenance framework on public buildings.
He said the policy only applies to buildings, but would soon be extended to assets like roads, bridges, railway, power installations and other infrastructure of a public nature.
He added that the pilot survey showed that these would cost N40.3 billion to reconstruct, while it will cost N922.8m yearly to maintain them, which is about 2.3 per cent of the cost of replacement.
“It shows that in built industry, only 23per cent of the workforce is employed by Design (6per cent) and Construction (15per cent), Governance (2per cent), while the remaining 77per cent are employed by maintenance and operation”, he said.
According to him, our decision on maintenance was an economic one, to empower Nigerians at the base of pyramid where artisans are involved in manufacturing of building and allied materials.
Fashola said, “We have five years to comply, and this requires that our buildings must have lifts and ramps. By this I mean well-designed ramps for people confined to their wheelchairs, not hills they cannot use on their own. ”
He disclosed that there was memorandum from the Ministry that challenged the conventional thinking that “Nigeria does not have a maintenance culture” provoked the decision.
His words”“Lack of National policy has made the practice of the vocations economically worthwhile on a sustainable basis. This requires the employment of people and therefore jobs will be created. People will be trained and employed to assess the conditions of affected buildings from foundation to roof and for mechanical and electrical sustainability purpose.”
SOURCE: https://guardian.ng/property/
