Agbara City Redevelopment + Estate
HENCEFORTH, property business is set to boom in Agabra city, a fast growing town in Ogun State as signs of better days are up for all discerning eyes, particularly those, who can pry into the future, have commenced jostling for position within the promising neighborhood.
The coming boom is unconnected with the massive Lagos-Badagry infrastructural provision embarked on by the Lagos State government, a project that has started driving property business within the area upward.
Agbara has a nature of a city, town, village, or other agglomeration of buildings where people live and work in Nigeria. It center lies at a latitude of 6.50525 and longitude of 3.10306and it has an elevation of 37 meters above sea level.
Until recently, landed property was on a ‘give away’ price when some realtors, developers, to be precise bought into the place. But with road project, more property investors are settling there for real business. To be conservative, more than 30 estates are going on along that axis at the moment, and some them have commenced aggressive marketing to would be investors.
Besides, a number of manufacturing companies are on ground there. These include Beta Glass Nigeria Plc -, Vitamalt Plc, Pharma Deko II, Nestle Nig. Plc, Lotus Plastics Nig. PLC, Reckitt Benckiser Nig. Limited, DIL/Maltex (Nig.) and Nestle Nig. Plc. Others are Evans Medical Nig. Plc, Unilever Nig. Plc, Pharma Deko (Nig.), Colodense Nig. Plc, Pace Factory Ltd, GlaxoSmithkline Nig. Plc, Cometstar Cables Ltd, Henley Industries (Sodium Silicate), Henley Industries (Lamps Factory) and Globus Resources Ltd.
Notably, most of these industries belong to the food and beverages and pharmaceutical group. The location and accessibility of Agbara Estate makes it an advantageous place to site an industry since raw materials and finished goods can easily be transported to and away from the factories.
Agbara Estate has been a major impetus driving developments in that serene neighborhood. The estate is the foremost private initiative in New Town development in Nigeria. It is a model integrated town development on 454.1 hectares of land being managed by AE Property Services Limited, a subsidiary of Lawsons Corporation Nigeria Limited. It is situated approximately 31 kilometers west of Lagos on the Lagos-Badagry expressway on high ground above the Owo River and derives its name from the neighboring Agbara village.
Historical backgroundThe initial intention was to start an industrial estate/layout in an area, which was outside Lagos metropolis but still within easy reach of Lagos in keeping with the government of the day’s policy to encourage rural development.
Consequently, in the early 1970s, Chief Adeyemi Lawson under the auspices of Lawsons and Company Limited began to purchase land from the original owners/families/settlers at Agbara village. He then commissioned Architects Godwin and Hopwood and Surveyors Knight Frank and Rutley, to prepare a feasibility study into a proposal to develop this land into an industrial and residential estate. As a result of this study, a master plan was prepared and approved by the Local Planning Authorities.
However, in 1976, the Ogun State government compulsorily acquired all land in Agbara, Igbesa and Ado-Odo areas, the over 900 hectares belonging to Lawsons and Company inclusive. The Ogun State government considered the resources already committed and infrastructural work that had been done on the Agbara Estate project, and agreed to lease back 454.1 hectares to Lawsons and company, this leasehold interest, for a term of 99 years from January 1, 1978, was subsequently transferred to Agbara Estates Limited.
Physical features/geology and soilAgbara Estate is on a laterite outcrop in an area of lowland behind the swamp forest of the Ologe Lagoon. The estate lies at the boundary of Ogun State. It is fairly flat, approximately 50 feet above the sea level, gently sloping into River Owo and the swamp areas to the South and East while gently undulating to the North and West.
A few valleys dissect the site which is in an area of recent geological deposits with sandbanks and creeks behind the coast and a laterite outcrop to the north of the Badagry laterite 200mm to 250mm in depth with a low humus content and low PH level.
Subsoil conditions in the estate will not involve expensive or special foundations. This is a great advantage over places like the Lekki peninsula and parts of Victoria Island and Ikoyi, where the cost of putting a raft foundation is conservatively put at over half a million naira. This amount is enough to finish the foundation and all block works of a four-bedroom duplex at Agbara Estate.
Industrial areasThe industrial areas constitute 41.55 per cent (188.289 hectares) of the whole estate and provide sites for the under-listed industrial concerns, some of which are members of multinational conglomerates, operating some of their most modern purpose built factories in the country.
Available spaces
There are two commercial areas, one located along Abeokuta Road, one of the primary roads on the estate and, the other area is a strip of land backing the Lagos-Badagry expressway. On the former is located the town center, which accommodates a shopping arcade (already completed but presently belongs to Messrs.
First Medical Industries Limited) and a number of community facilities. The latter provides sites for the commercial banks e.g. Union Bank Nig. Plc, First Bank Nig. Plc And The Uba Group Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank all of which are in operation.
The remaining unsold space of about 1 hectare has been allocated for the development of office buildings.
There are three residential areas in the Estate. It is the aim of the Master Plan to create residential areas each with its identity and character and each with its own facilities. The unifying element in the design of the three residential phases will be the Green Belt. Residential Phase 1 is the phase recently under development and has all its plots serviced.
The Club Drive, which is an extension of Phase 1 lie between the Agbara Estates Limited Site Office and the Estate Club. Today, the residential Phase I accommodates about 5,000 inhabitants while the estate receives an extraneous human traffic of more than 50,000 daily.
These people come to the various industries to transact one business or the other. In addition, there are five higher institutions (Five Universities plus One College of Education) with distances of few kilometers to Agbara Estate. Each Institution comprises not less than 5,000 population each.
Infrastructure
Two federal highways service the estate. The Lagos-Badagry Expressway runs along the Southern fringes of the estate and the yet to be completed Lagos-Sokoto Highway bifurcates the estate. The two sides are linked to the highway through T-junctions. 6 meters tar macadam two-way single carriageway roads service the industrial zones. Residential and Commercial plots have tarred roads accessing into them.
The estate is connected to the National Grid and an 11/33KV Station has already been energised on the estate. Each development is connected to the station through overhead lines. Agbara Estates Limited is presently exploring the idea of installing an Independent Power Plant (IPP) to service all tenants.
Water is mainly sourced from the under-ground reservoirs through the boreholes drilled by the management of the estate. The water is treated in the treatment plant from where it is circulated through underground mains into residential properties for domestic use. Each residential development is connected to the mains on completion. Due to the large volume used by some of the factories each provides its own water supply, which is also through boreholes.
Natural drainage is by streams that drain down to Ologe Lagoon, a fresh water lake. Artificial drainage is by V-shaped earth drains abutting all the roads to the Estate. The earth drains are grassed (30,000m2 of grass planted by hand) and mowed regularly. (Functional landscaping).
There is a Sewage Treatment Plant, an Aerated Lagoon System that collects and treats both domestic and industrial effluents through oxidation process before discharging the treated effluents into the Ologe Lagoon through a stream.
The plant is the first of its type in Nigeria. Sewage pipes are laid to connect individual residential, commercial and industrial properties to the treatment plant and manholes are provided at road boundaries of all plots.
Pricing
In Agbara, prices of land and other structure depend on the location. A plot of land could still be gotten between N500,000 and N2m. But this is set to skyrocket in the nearest future.
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