OPIC Set to Redevelop Isheri

• OPIC Set to Redevelop Isheri

The Ogun State Property and Investment Corporation says it has commenced the re-development of Isheri, a boundary community between Ogun and Lagos states, along the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway.

The Managing Director of OPIC, Mr Jide Odusolu, said the area would be turned into a mixed-used development where people could live and work.

He said the corporation had reviewed the entire scope of the area and had commenced putting in place roads in preparation for the changes that would take place.

Odusolu said, “We are re-developing the event centre in the area into a major entertainment centre, we are building three additional office complexes there. We are also putting in place, a mall and a hotel to support it but the first step is infrastructure which is what we are putting in place now with the construction of over 1.5 kilometres of road networks around this neighbourhood.

“The whole concept around it is to show the new face of Ogun State that we are ready to compete favourably with the very best that Lagos has to offer in terms of luxury living.”

He stated that to take care of the residential aspect of the area, OPIC had been working on MTR Gardens, an upscale development of over 180 two and three-bedroom apartments.

He said, “MTR Gardens is a major statement; it started in 2015 as a concept. When we first came here, this place was a swamp. What led to the project was that the community wrote to the governor complaining that the whole area had become like a den of armed robbers and it was creating chaos for them. We then decided we wanted to create a new place with a mall, commercial area and residential buildings, we saw the potential of the place.

“The first thing we did was reclamation, the soil here is worse than Lekki, it was a low land and there was nowhere for the water to go out. It was all sludge, meaning there was a lot of soil to be removed. In Lekki, you just fill and start construction but here we had to remove soil because without that nothing can settle. We started with a process of reclamation, resettlement and infrastructure.

“This is just the first phase; the second phase we will do about 600 houses. We are planning a commercial city which will have a mall and commercial centre with broadband Internet service. The idea is to create a holistic community where people can live and work. People here have no business shuttling between here and Lagos.”

According to him, the vision is to recreate the quality of life, to enable people invest more in Ogun State, saying, “we do not just want people to invest in Ogun State, we want them to live, play and thrive in Ogun and just know that it is their home.”

He explained that to address flooding in the area, the corporation had created a one kilometre channel taking water from the major road into the canal.

He added that to also complement the development in the area, OPIC was working on residential estates in Warewa and Magboro.

“In Warewa and Magboro, we are doing a lower-middle model of what we have here while in New Makun City, we have low to lower middle housing, which is exclusively for affordable housing and everything about it is done through mortgage. You can’t create exclusively upscale communities, at the same time, you can’t create exclusively lower scale communities, it is not viable. You must have a blended development that gives the robust answer to Nigeria’s housing needs,” he said.