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11.05.2016 Feature Article

‘Affordable, healthy houses for West Africans is achievable’

Alejandro Pons, CEO of Walltech Holdings, Accra-GhanaAlejandro Pons, CEO of Walltech Holdings, Accra-Ghana
11.05.2016 LISTEN

Clean, healthy and affordable housing for all Nigerians, nay all West Africans, all is an achievable dream, not rocket science, Alejandro Pons, executive chairman of Ghana-based Walltech Holding, a real estate and construction materials manufacturing tells MARTIN-LUTHER C. KING in Accra. Pons says all that is needed is the necessary commitment and support from the government as well as the financial institutions.

Excerpts:
How can West African countries overcome the problem of inadequate housing?

Good. The housing deficit experienced by countries in West Africa is not because we are notable to give houses to the people; or that the people don’t want to improve their lives; because the people have not been given the opportunity to afford their own houses. Nigeria, for instance, needs at least 17 million houses. So, let’s give the people these17million houses; but let’s give them the houses that Nigerians can afford. Don’t give them houses of 50-, 60- and 70- or 100,000 United States dollars; rather give them houses for 20, 000, for 15, 000 dollars.

Is that possible?
Of course, it’s possible. Right now, I am building such houses, one bedroom houses in Ghana that cost US$20,000; affordable houses. My first project in Ghana is 200 houses;the second is a 5000 estate. I’m going to show that it’s not only possible. It’s good in business to make money, but is even better to change the country. And, Nigeria has to do it.

What kind of materials do you use for these houses?

For a house of 20, 000, 25,000 dollars we use our unique system. We have a plan;we setup aUS$5 million factory in Ghana called Walltech Systems whose standards are world-class. In three years, we have built more than three hundred houses in Ghana; and all over the world, Walltech Systems has built more than a hundred thousand houses. But the system is not the most important thing; the important thing is to build a house under a clean environment; to build a healthy house. Let me say, Let’s build healthy houses where the system is fast, clean and easy. The materials could be cement blocks, and could be some other materials, why not? The important thing is that it has to be clean. In our group, we have Inesfly, which is a paint that eradicates all insects in your house for two years. So, we use Inesfly; and we also give you affordable and really, really clean houses.

Can you elaborate more on the quality of materials that you use to build these affordable houses?

We use steel panels or blocks for the walls; but we can also adapt to different systems across Africa and build with other materials that are peculiarly suitable for specific environments; we don’t say it must be strictly Walltech System’s materials. But principally, we start with Walltech System’s roofing-sheets, tiles, louver blades, wooden doors, simple fittings. You have to understand that we cannot use the quality of US$100, 000 for US$20, 000. And even at that, people can improve with time. For instance when you freshly graduated from university, you weren’t employed at the same level in your career as where you are today. It’s the same with houses; the important thing is to be given the opportunity to start.It’s the same in housing; nobody; if nobody gives you the opportunity to own even a house of US$20, 000, US$30, 000, how are you going to grow? How is the country going to grow? The result is that we are encouraging people to remain in poverty.And for countries like Nigeria and Ghana, doing so will not make them grow.

How many rooms will these houses have?
The houses come as one bedroom houses, including living room, toilet facilities with a shower, a kitchenette and the bedroom. This is for the one bedroom apartment. Then there is the two bedroom house, which is similar to the one room but with an extra room, plus the yard around. Because they are not large apartments; they are small houses. But the important thing is that you are in a nice environment, a clean environment. Next are the detached houses.

How long does it take to construct these houses?

In our system we are able to build one house in 20 days. We’ve already done similar projects in Latin America where we’ve been able to 200 to 300 houses within two, three months, with proper financing, proper labor schemes.

How long do you guarantee that these houses will last?

Forever. Our system in Walltech are steel-frame systems. It’s a monolithic system that was used in the second world war. Up till now in Germany you can still find houses built with this system; it’s worldwide. Listen, let me tell you this simple truth, When you build a house, 20 per cent is steel, and 80 per cent is sand and cement. But in our houses, 50 per cent is steel, and 50 per cent is sand and cement. Now you can see when, unfortunately, in some countries some houses survived bombs during the Second World War; and till today the structures are still there; the steel is still there. Now these houses are very strong; they measure 9.5 on the Richter scale; and, the quality of our system is fantastic. But I want to emphasize that the most important of all these is the concept, not the system. Yes we have the system;Diagis Real Estate is similar to Walltech, but we want to emphasize that we want to build healthy houses, low-income houses that nobody else had built up to now.

How can low-income families be able to pay for these houses?

It is very important that governments set a financing structure. In the case of Ghana, we are planning something like, you give us US$4000 as down payment, pay US$250 monthly thereafter, and you get your house. Imagine, US$4000 down payment and US$250 every month for 20 years, and you have your house. Now you and your wife together, you can buy your first house. Tell me how many houses you can buy like that in Africa?

You talked about using Inesfly paint as an intrinsic fortification to boost healthiness of the houses. How do you mean?

I have interests in Inesfly like a share-holder. And I believe that with its excellent composition, Inesfly is a product that really works to protect your house for two years. Now we are able to keep a house healthy. Healthy means no insects, no coackroaches, no mosquitoes. That means that in your house you are protected; your children are protected. You are buying a house where you do not get malaria; maybe in your office, maybe at your job; but in your house, my friend you can go to sleep, you can watch television, you can go to the toilet, no one insect for two years. And this is the standard that we want to create. Because you can get a low-income house, but why would you want to put trouble on yourself and your health when you can have a product like Inesfly protecting you for two years.

For a country like Nigeria with a huge pollution, are you able to deliver housing to a large volume of people urgently and at the same time?

If we get a proper financial support that is structural, Walltech and Diagis will be able to deliver 10, 000 houses a year. This is not mere talk; we can show that Walltech in Latin America had already delivered, for different countries, 7000, 8000, 12000 houses per year; but low-income houses. We can do it; with our system we can build a one million houses. Last year, we built 18, 000 houses in Latin America, in Bolivia, Ecuador, Panama and Colombia.

In building your houses do also take Africa’s peculiar environment into consideration?

The weather in Latin America is just the same as here in Africa; the labor scales are also the same. The only difference is that Latin America has already developed finance systems to give room for these people to get these houses; whereas in Africa this is not in place. Africa needs to put in place such finance and governmental support systems to be able to develop. If you have children and they are working, and they are making say US$500 a month in salary, but they cannot buy a house, how is that child going to leave home; how is that child going to develop; how is that child going to be independent; how are you going to give him that self-confidence dignity that can only come from ownership of their own house? And this is very important if Africa is to truly grow. You can start from the US$20, 000 house, later sell it to buy one of US$40, 000. That way, in 20 years every body would improve.

What if a family prefers that you supply the materials and let them construct the house themselves?

We don’t have any problem with that. If you have your land and you give us your budget, we can even adapt our system to your house. But it’s not really our system, our model; we’ve been in this business. We can build your house in one month for US$30, 000, that’s the 3-bedroom house. Indeed in Ghana we have built over 150such houses; but logistics is high; it’s difficult. How to get a low-income price, how to get a sustainable standard rate is to build in the same place, to buy in bulk, to have a proper finance to buy your cement, your tiles, your doors, you know what I mean! Because if I have to build 500 houses and I have to buy one door for one house, it’s not the same as to buy for 500 houses. Now all this is to the benefit of the final client. We are not looking at 50, or 60, or 70 per cent profit. Our company is looking at 18 per cent profit. But with volume, that 18 per cent becomes very big. Materials to build one house would cost US$20, 000 dollars, and the extra three or four thousand dollars becomes our profit. With that I am ok; because I want to change this country, I want to change this continent; I want to give. In Nigeria, you have 175 million people, and 174 million out of that number are poor, or they are low-income. And they cannot afford a house of US$50, 000 or US$100, 000. But, maybe, 20 million can afford houses of US$20, 000. Do you know what it means if you can empower and give dignity to 20 million people in Nigeria? You know when that happens, Nigeria will be the number one economy in the world. You know how a human being can change him or herself when they have their own house?

Does the price of the various categories of houses you mentioned cover land on which the house is built?

In the case of Ghana, I’d already bought the land; and, it’s going to be US$25, 000 with land and everything. But the government support for that is very important.The finance institutional assistance is also very important. What is left for me to say is that if we have the support of the financial institutions and the government we can change the face of housing in Africa.

If you do get the support of governments and financial institutions in Nigeria, will you bring the prices down?

Bring down the prices. Yes, we can always bring down the prices, come down in square meters, come down in quality, then we can come down in the prices. If the people want houses for US$15, 000, of course I will build for US$15, 000. You know what I mean! I’m being fair; I need my small profit because, of course, we are doing business; but I really want to help people. And, I want to use my green products and my Inesfly to protect them. Because if I build a house, a small house, but it’s full of insects, what is the use? Tell me, where is the dignity? If you’re sick in your nice house, even if the house is worth a million dollars, if you’re sick, tell me, what is the use? But if I give you a small, healthy house, and you have your mattress, and you don’t have a single ant and cockroach in the house, my friend, youwill fly.

Who is Alejandro Pons?
I came to Ghana almostnine years ago, and set up this company, Diagis Real Estate as well as Walltech Ghana.Diagis Real Estate is a developer, while WalltechGhana is a manufacturing company that is doing the piles; and, there is also Walltech Construction, or Walltech Holding, which is a holding company.Walltech Construction is a builder. Now Walltech Construction can use Walltech System, or not. When I set up these three companies eight years ago, we signed a contract with the government of Ghana for 100, 000 houses, but we’ve never been able to sign the finance. Why? We can sign many contracts, but if I don’t have the support of the government, no deal. I don’t have the money to release. I am not going to Nigeria or to Ghana to finance thegovernment; I’m not a bank; I’m not an NGO. I want to help; I have the knowledge; I want to transfer my technology to the country. But I need a fifty-fifty partnership. I want to use our partnership with Interplast, that is the number one in piping in all Africa, I want to follow that. When we made these investments in Africa, we set up factories, we set up businesses to try to close these gaps in the African housing market.

Where do you manufacture the materials for building the houses?

Now we manufacture locally. And we are able to put the factory in any place where we are building. It’s amobile factory. This is my experience, and I think I am going to fly with this concept of clean, affordable, dignifying and healthy houses.

What do you think the future is like for clean affordable houses?

The future is that we have create possibilities; we have to give dignity to people. Governments have the obligation to giveopportunity, make it a law that citizens must own their own houses. Give them houses, you give them dignity. It doesn’t matter whether it is one-room, s twenty-square meters houses; give them the house; give them dignity; and, they will improve, they will feel good toward work, they will feel empowered to do more things. Thatis the future. Let’s create healthy houses national projects where we will one million, two million houses for the low-income earners, financed by the governments. I don’t say the people don’t have to pay; let them pay. But let each pay at their levels. Put in a place a structured finance system that will allow the people to pay in installments. Give dignity to your countries.

Thank you for your time, Mr. Pons!
Thank you very much!

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