Segun Ayinde, Abeokuta
Ahead of the September 11, 2024 commissioning of the first set of ecostay apartments within Pelican Brief Estate, one of the products of Pelican Valley Nigeria Limited, the promoter of the emerging Smart City, has begun construction of recreational facilities at the site to enhance the physical well-being of clients.
The four-in-one facility comprises a standard swimming pool, basketball, badminton, lawn tennis and volleyball court. There will also be provision for table tennis.
The foremost Nigerian real estate firm on Tuesday, May 21, also signed over N40 million contract with the contractor – firm, Prime Pythagoras, to build and deliver the facility on or before September 11 for commissioning alongside the first sets of apartments in the estate.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pelican Valley Nigeria Limited, Ambassador (Dr) Babatunde Adeyemo, said the rationale behind it is to build an estate where nature meets luxury, to promote a healthy lifestyle in an eco-friendly environment and take clients away from the life of hustle and bustle that Lagos and Abeokuta metropolis have become.
Former governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, is expected to grace the commissioning as a Special guest of honour. The state Commissioner for Physical and Urban Planning is also expected on that auspicious day while the Chairperson of the Nigeria Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, is equally expected as one of the eminent Nigerians to grace the occasion.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after inspecting the excavation work preparatory to laying of foundation stones for the facility, Adeyemo said it is very important for the real estate company to put the facility in place to further reinforce clients’ confidence in the unique level of high end comfort environment will offer them.
He explained that there would be nothing like a generator in the estate as power sources would come only from the stepped-down 33Kva electricity trunkline, the energized 500kva transformer and a provision of access to Solar/inverter option to complement the grid.
He said, “The comfort and well-being of our clients are of paramount importance to us. So, today we are setting the stage to score yet another goal, to mobilise our contractor on recreation, to build a multi-million naira, three-in-one recreational facility. We are going to have a lawn tennis court here, a badminton court, five aside courts and at the same time, a basketball court. It is quite unique. Also, we want to have a table tennis court as well. There will be a swimming pool. All these modern infrastructures and recreational facilities are part of our mantra for Ecostay friendly Apartments, where nature meets luxury. it is our brand’s unique selling point (USP). We have got the nature already. We have Camel already. We want to acquire peacocks and we want to get other natural habitats here too. Having the recreational facility is the luxury aspect of it.”
“We just signed a N40m contract today with our contractor on site to build the facility. You can see that they have commenced excavation of the soil for the foundation of the courts. It is very very important for us to put the facility in place because it is what will make our clients feel the unique level of comfort we are offering
“Besides, we have a farm estate which is about two kilometres away from here, Pelican Brief and Pelican Ecostay Apartments. We have commenced preparation of the land for cultivation of which some of the fresh produce will be used to service the people that will stay or live here and sell others for huge commercial and economic value.
“We are developing Pelican’s Ecostay apartments for our clients most of whom are living abroad. We want to help them convert this facility to short-let apartments. Some of them are not here and once they are out of the country, we convert it to a short-let for them where people will come in and relax while our clients earn rental incomes. However, when homeowners are around, we will not bring in clients to the apartments.
“We are building Pelican ecostay apartments to take our clients away from the hustle and bustle of Lagos and Abeokuta metropolis, bring them to a reserved area with 100 per cent eco – friendly, we are not going have anything like generator, there is an already a step-down 33kva, you can see electrification lines, we have a – 500kva transformer fully energized and at the same time, we are going to build solar/ inverter panels to back up for shortfalls in public power supply.
“By the grace of God, we are looking forward to having former governor, Aremo Olusegun Osoba commission the facilities and apartments for us by September 11 and we also looking forward to having the Ogun State’s Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, tpl, Tunji Odunlami, who is one the brilliant executors of the master plan of Ogun State, he has been doing well, tenacious, discipline, forthcoming and has been so principled.
“His discipline and principles took us to where we are now. If he were to be an all-comers thing, most of the real estate investors would not have seen the need to do Approvals. And having made us see the importance, I have done it and have seen the benefits, I will continue to do Approvals for all my real estate products in Ogun State.
“Today, we received yet another approval for the extension of Pelican Brief Estate. We are extending Pelican Brief by another 600 plots and even with the extension, we are proposing closure of land sales, soonest at Pelican Brief Estate. We want to start adding value and building apartment structures for sale instead of selling lands. Hopefully, in about a month or two, we will stop selling lands in Pelican-Brief. We will concentrate on building for sale. That is why we are driving this multi-million naira facility to this environment.”
On the sustainability of the facility, he said, “Although there will be development levies for the subscribers we are not going to wait for our clients to commit their funds before we put the needful facilities and infrastructure in place. We adding our funds to finance the Ecostay apartments and Pelican-Brief infrastructure upgrades.
“We won’t wait for clients to fix our Estate’s basic infrastructures, we are continuously producing interlocking stones to fix our roads in the Pelican Brief and Ecostay Apartments. We want those coming in to feel the aura of nature and luxury here. We want to make this place the next Dubai, God willing.” he said.