Posted: 2022 | Pages: 74 | Format: MS Word | Chapters: 1-5 | Others: Questionnaires & References

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ABSTRACT

A very worrisome phenomenon in the life of human being is the desire to have a roof over his head, which is why man struggles to provide safe and comfortable housing for himself and his family, but the cost implication seems overbearing for most residents in Nigeria. This research aims at evaluating the effect of the rising cost of building materials on property development and project completion in Asaba delta state which involves analysing the causes of the increasing cost and inflation on building materials. The purpose of this work was to critically examine the effect of rising cost of building materials in property development on project completion. The objectives of the research include; to articulate some of the causes of the rising cost of building materials in property development in Nigeria, to articulate some of the effects of rising cost of rising cost of building materials in property development in Nigeria, to proffer some possible remedies to rising cost of building materials in Nigeria. The survey research approach was adopted. A total of fifty (50) questionnaires were distributed but only 40 were returned representing 80% of questionnaires administered. The study recommended that; Government should come-up with laws that will look at the built industries in an effort to reduce the prices and thereby increase the rate at which properties and projects are developed, the rate of investment in the building sectors should be encouraged, government should regulate interest rates charged by banks on loans for building projects and  deal with the problems of inflation, exchange rate, local materials production as well as supplies of housing construction materials at relatively low  and affordable cost

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1          HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The task of undertaking a new project such as construction of a new building, people have needed some idea of its cost before they start work on it. The new English Bible say; “ would any of you think of building a tower without first sitting down and calculating the cost, to see whether he could afford to finish it. Otherwise, if he has laid the foundation and then not able to complete it all, the onlookers will laugh at him saying there is a man who started to build and could not finish it. (Gospel of St. Luke Chapter 14:28).

In trying to identify the problem in this work, I will start by giving a brief history of housing technology.

In the earliest times, man built primitive shelters by carrying caves with their hard tools or by weaving grass or reeds into mats, applying thatch to roof frames made of branches, or later cutting trees and notching logs to make crude wooden buildings. Example of those building methods still exist sometimes within a few miles of the most modern still or reinforced concrete structures. The development of tools was closely linked to the development of buildings and their materials. By the beginning of Christian era, bronze was widely available and a few centuries later, wrought iron tools for carpentry and masonry were common throughout Western Europe and the orient.

In Nigeria a look at the past decades show that construction activities rose very sharply and came to a pick during the implementation of the Third National Development Plan.

Since after the period of oil boom in Nigeria that was around 1975-1977 building cost have continued to rise steadily at this time foreign construction companies operating in Nigeria were given the impression that finances was no longer a problem in the implementation of the government project. Also suffice to say that explosion in the volume of economic activities took place when the country has inadequate infrastructural facilities including roads, ports, communication, water supply, electricity, etc. all yawning for development. Government was therefore in a hurry to develop these facilities and to provide other basic needs of its citizenry, therefore the rate of increase of constructional activities for out stripped the production of the skilled local manpower and materials required to successfully accommodate the increased activities.

Gradually it is becoming impossible for the common man to even dream of acquiring his own accommodation much less realise it. The government has been left holding the baby as it were. This has formed the basis of this research. Our country’s landscape is littered with abandoned project. These abandoned project estimate apart from constituting an eye sore, they have contributed to the economic down turn experienced in the country.