Eco-village in Port Harcourt

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The developer of the passive house prototype, Eco-village in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Chinwe Ohajuruka, has been named a finalist in the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards’ business plan competition.

Ohajuruka will be representing Nigeria and the West Africa sub-region at the awards that hold mid-October at a joint Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards and Women’s Forum in Deauville, France.

A statement by the Director, Programmes, Community Conservation and Development Initiatives, Kofo Adeleke, noted that Ohajuruka had been able to demonstrate that environmentally sustainable and affordable housing could be achieved in the country through modular passive housing prototypes and that such projects were realisable, replicable, scalable and commercially viable.

Adeleke said in a statement, “Her mantra has been that if Nigeria can address the housing deficit as well as other infrastructure by building green, Nigeria will lead the world in sustainability.

“The successful execution of this project provides evidence for developers, financial institutions, microfinance organisations, state and federal governments, foundations, non-governmental organisations and others on the opportunities for partnerships and collaboration on affordable green housing.”

She said the first families in Rivers State had moved into the eco-friendly village, which was built by Comprehensive Design Services and CAP Consultants led by Ohajuruka and her team, including Omie Ben-Kalio and Michael Ukpeh.

According to Adeleke, the self-cooling and solar-powered design village uses bio-climatic features such as natural ventilation and shading, light-coloured roofs, courtyards, solar power for pumping water and lighting, waste recycling, compressed earth Hydraform blocks, as well as locally available materials for construction.

“The new families will be guided and assisted with the use of the green low technologies that the passive house principles are based on.

Residents have already remarked that they do not need any fans or air-conditioners to live comfortably,” she added.

Adeleke said that a key factor in the design was its affordability for low-income earners, as they found it very difficult to access funds for property ownership.

She added, “The next step is to provide more families with the opportunity to own this kind of home.

This project addresses the low income housing shortage, environmental sustainability and Nigeria’s goal of achieving a low carbon green economy, and has managed to tackle all three at the same time.

“The CCDI has been looking at environmentally sustainable financing and green products and services that financial institutions can provide to developers for green housing projects and for families to obtain green mortgages to buy them.

Green mortgages with lower interest rates for clients who purchase energy efficient homes, solar energy financing, environmentally friendly technology leasing, carbon financing etc. are all part of the solution to scale up green projects.”