From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
The Delta State government has entered into a partnership, on behalf of civil servants, with a major construction material distributor for the purchase of materials on flexible payment arrangements.
With the new partnership, executed through the office of the Head of Service (HoS), public servants are expected to enjoy a discounted cost of housing construction on a payment plan spread over one year.
This is coming barely a month after the signing of an agreement with KYC Interproject Limited to build 10,000 housing units, in the first instance, for public servants.
In a circular to announce the new partnership, the HoS, Mr Reginald Bayoko, gave the name of the constriction distributor as Messrs Lafenax Nigeria Limited.
Bayako said the arrangement was put in place to improve the welfare of its workforce by mitigating the high cost of constriction materials as well as reducing the financial burden of construction through direct deductions at source from their monthly salaries.
The HoS thanked Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, for providing the enabling environment to consummate the arrangement.
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He explained that officers on salary grade levels 01 – 06bwere eligible to collect various construction materials, worth between N150,000 and N500,000 while those on salary grade levels 07 – 12 were eligible for items ranging from N150,000 to N1 million.
Other categories of officers listed in the circular were those on salary grade levels 13 to the consolidated, who were eligible to collect construction materials worth between N150,000 and N2 million, while those on salary grade levels 16 and above are to receive items up to N3 million.
It stated that public servants were afforded the opportunity to collect the required items at 0.05 per cent interest rate of prevailing prices and ensured that the total value was liquidated within a period of 12 months.
On the other hand, it stated that public servants were also allowed to make a deposit payment at a 0.05 per cent discount rate of prevailing prices, based on the approved amount for various salary grade levels, and collect the items later within a year period which would not be subject to price fluctuations.
The circular also stated that all beneficiaries of the existing Public Servants Housing Scheme and Federal Mortgage Bank Renovation Loan Scheme were automatically qualified to benefit, provided the applicants had a minimum of two years left before retirement from the service.