By Owoleye Oluwakayode
A real estate developer, Pelican Valley Nigeria, has inaugurated an electrification project at Pelican-Brief Estate, in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The Chairman, Pelican Valley Nigeria Ltd, Babatunde Adeyemo, in his opening speech at the inauguration recently, expressed his gratitude to the Ogun State government for providing an enabling environment for real estate firms to thrive.
He said the siting of the estate in that location was not by accident, adding that it took a lot of effort to get the right piece of real estate primed for development.
He said, “My adventure towards igniting this proposed smart city started about two years ago, when I started looking for land free from government acquisition. Discovering this particular location took me almost one and half years.
“My due diligence and search ranged from crosscheck at the Bureau of Lands to checking for land not only free from government acquisition but with proximity advantage to the Ogun State seat of power.”
According to Adeyemo, the estate is filled with opportunities, and investor funds are heavily utilised to yield maximum returns.
He said, “We never hesitated to invest heavily towards adding value to our property; this is why our average investor at Pelican-Brief can boast of over 100 per cent returns on investment within seven months.
“We don’t run advertising neither do we do sales promo. All we do to hit our targets is to add value to our lands and convert our customers to ambassadors.”
He disclosed that the electrification project was delivered within six months, adding that such a project took as much as 10 years to achieve for some real estate developers.
The Director of Operations, Somide Samuel, said the estate had acquired over 80 hectares of land and had plans for expansion.
He said, “When we say smart city, it means a city where innovation and technology will be the brand of the whole estate in the sense that it will be 50 per cent driven by ICT.
“Right from the gate house with an automatic gate entrance where you swipe in your cards and do facial recognition, there will be CCTV installations in all corners of the estate with free wireless connections and other facilities. We are also looking to partner with other ICT firms to set up their base here.”