Firm builds market for building materials dealers

A real estate firm, M. I. Okoro and Associates, has announced its partnership with Polaris Bank towards the relocation of 2,000 electrical and building materials dealers in Rivers State.

The Founding Partner at M. I. Okoro & Associates, Meckson Okoro, while briefing journalists in Lagos, stated that plans were underway to relocate traders operating in Okija, Port Harcourt to a new market in Iriebe.

Okoro said over 2,000 members of the Electrical Materials Dealers Association would be relocated to the new Electrical Market and Building City with N5bn mortgage funding from Polaris Bank.

Also, a Principal Partner at M.I. Okoro & Associates, Dr. Innocent Okoro, said that out of the 1,720 shops that were planned to be developed, 600 lock-up shops had been built.

He said, “The newly developed shops would soon be available for business activities while the developer continues to construct more shops in stages to provide the electrical materials dealers with a fully settled business environment at the new site, which has been named ‘Promised Land’ by the association.”

Okoro stated that in addition to the 1,720 lock-up shops being developed, the traders would be provided warehouses, where their goods would be stored for easy distribution to their customers.

He added, “Also, visiting customers can load and off-load goods within the warehouses and transport them to different parts of the country.

“There will also be restaurants located at various convenient points within the complex so that traders and their customers will find it easy to eat and save time. 

“Apart from a toilet facility in several places, electricity supply in the new complex will be a combination of solar and independent energy supply from private sector driven arrangements.”

He noted that provisions had been made for banking halls and other offices to support business operations in the Promised Land, which were lacking in Okija.

According to him, the major reason Polaris Bank Limited partnered with M. I. Okoro & Associates is to ensure that the movement of the Electrical Dealers Association to its permanent site becomes a reality.  

Speaking on the economic implications of the relocation, he noted that it would release the latent value of the land and properties within and outside the immediate environment of the complex.

He said, “There would be an increase in terms of capital and rental values because the traders’ presence at the new location would act as a pull on to other businesses.”