Mrs Lauretta Odusolu, Group Executive Director, Octo5 Holdings Ltd., a real estate and services firm, has urged property developers to make flood resilience a key consideration in estate planning and development.
Odusolu said this in an interview with newsmen on Sunday while reacting to the of impact of recurring flooding on real estate development and property investment in Lagos State.
She said developers should move away from the practice of constructing estates before addressing drainage challenges.
She explained that flood management should be integrated into estate design from the outset.
According to her, developers should conduct flood risk assessments before acquiring land and consider the flood history, elevation, natural drainage patterns and proximity to waterways.
She said estate designs should also provide adequate drainage capacity, preserve natural waterways and drainage corridors, and incorporate measures to retain or temporarily store stormwater.
“Developers need to move from ‘build first, solve drainage later’ to treating flood resilience as part of the initial estate design,” she said.
Odusolu said roads and drainage systems should be designed together to ensure that stormwater was safely channelled away from homes and other critical infrastructure.
She also advocated the use of permeable surfaces, landscaped areas, retention ponds and appropriately elevated buildings in flood-prone locations.
She stressed the need for developers and estate managers to establish regular drainage inspection, cleaning and desilting programmes, noting that even well designed drainage systems could fail when poorly maintained.
Odusolu called for stronger government approval requirements to ensure that proposed developments did not increase flood risks for neighbouring communities.
She said government agencies also had important roles to play in addressing flooding outside private estates, particularly through the maintenance and clearing of public drainage infrastructure.
“Government has a part to play sincerely. Government is responsible for cleaning up outside the estates, and that is not done in many cases,” she said.
The Octo5 executive director urged developers to undertake more rigorous flood risk assessments, particularly for large developments and properties located in areas with known flood exposure.
She noted that the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) had issued forecasts on expected heavy rainfall, adding that such information should guide planning and development decisions.
Odusolu said flood risk assessments should consider historical flooding, topography, rainfall intensity, drainage capacity, waterway setbacks and the possible impact of a development on surrounding communities.
She also urged developers to consider climate resilience, including increasing rainfall intensity and, in coastal Lagos, tidal and sea level related risks.
According to her, the responsibility for maintaining drainage infrastructure should be clearly defined before developers hand over estates to estate managers.
On property investment, Odusolu said recurring flooding should now be regarded as a property valuation and due diligence issue rather than merely an inconvenience.
She advised prospective homeowners and investors to investigate the flood history of an area, elevation of properties, drainage infrastructure, accessibility and the condition of surrounding roads before purchasing properties.
“Don’t just ask whether the particular street floods. Ask what happens around it. A property may be dry while the access road becomes impassable,” she said.
Odusolu said investors should also consider the long term resale value of properties in flood prone locations, noting that such properties could face higher maintenance costs, insurance concerns, reduced demand and slower resale.
She said the recent flooding in Lagos should encourage stakeholders to shift the conversation from whether an estate floods to how resilient it is under increasingly severe rainfall.
“For Lagos, I think the conversation should move from ‘Does this estate flood?’ to ‘How resilient is this estate under increasingly severe rainfall?’” she said.
Odusolu said Octo5 Holdings previously known as Legacy Realties had prioritised proper planning and invested in technology and infrastructure aimed at preventing flooding across its estates.
“At Octo5, all our properties are well planned and our estates are flood free. We invested in the technology to prevent this,” she said.
She, however, identified the impact of coastal road construction and sand filling as factors that could affect natural drainage patterns and contribute to flooding.
Odusolu said flood resilience should ultimately become part of the value proposition of real estate developments, alongside title, structural integrity, location and availability of utilities.
She urged developers, government and other stakeholders to adopt more coordinated approaches to flood management to protect investments and communities across Lagos.