Problem Statement
After waiting for so long, I finally took the decision this year to buy a piece of land in my State capital, Yenegoa, Bayelsa State of Nigeria. Immediately I engaged the services of real estate agents, friends and my elder sister'. They all came up with various locations in and on the outskirts of the state capital. I took a trip last weekend with my family to assess the various places. After visiting all location, I was left with four alternatives.
Alternatives
In the process of selecting the best location the following were looked at:
Alternative A: Kpansia II
Alternative B: Azikoro
Alternative C: Opolo
Alternative D: Igbogene
Analysis of Alternatives
Alternative A: This is located NW of the capital.
Merits
It has good soil formation and requires minimal landfill.
A planned layout.
Any size of plot available.
A major road running through district.
Strictly a residential reservation
No indigenous settlement
Suitable for long term development plan
Low crime rate
Demerits
No power supply
No public water supply
No streets constructed with drains, asphalting etc.
No markets
No schools
No hospitals
Cost of land is circa $6500 per 464m2(single plot)
Dense forest
Entire Settlement has less than 5% developed.
Multiple sales of plots and legal disputes.
Family not too favoured to location, consider low development
Alternative B: This is located on the outskirts of the capital (less than 15mins drive).
Merits
It has good soil formation and requires no landfill.
Immediate development
Any size of plot available.
A major road running through district.
Mixed use
Power available
Schools available
Hospitals available
Cost of land is circa $2500 per 464m2(single plot)
Demerits
No public water supply
No planned layout
No streets constructed with drains, asphalting etc.
Dense forest
Strictly indigenous settlement
Multiple sales of plots and legal disputes.
High crime rate
Frequent inter-communal feud
Uncontrolled sale of land by indigenous people
Family not too favoured to location, consider out of town and largely communal.
Alternative C: This is located on the heart of the capital.
Merits
Immediate development
Layout by planning authority
Streets fully developed with infrastructure
Water supply available
Power available
Schools available
Hospitals available
Markets/supermarkets available
Entire settlement fully developed
Land comes with C of O; mostly resale after government allocation
No communal settlement
Family favoured to location, consider inside town
Demerits
Seasonal swamp requires average landfill of 3Metres with river sharp sand only.
Limited size of plots only
Multiple sales of plots and legal disputes.
Cost of land only is circa $20000 per 464m2(single plot)
High crime rate with frequent kidnapping, armed robbery and assassinations
High noise level
Too many hotels within vicinity, creating nuisance of prostitutes, hawkers, thugs etc
Alternative D: This is located on the outskirts of the capital (less than 25mins drive)
Merits
It has good soil formation and requires no landfill.
Immediate development
Any size of plot available.
The city highway running through district
Construction of roads by government and oil companies (presence of large hydrocarbon deposits).
Good layout by community.
Power available
Schools available
Cost of land is circa $2500 per 464m2(single plot)
Presence of community vigilante/police post
Demerits
No public water supply
Dense forest
Strictly indigenous settlement
Multiple sales of plots and legal disputes.
Medium crime rate
hospital available
Family consider good but out of town
Selection of Alternatives
The Choice of land location in my state capital
| Weighting Positive Drivers 5 Low Cost of land 4 No land filling 3 Availability of infrastructure 3 Located within city centre 3 Access to schools 4 Communication/transport Available 3 Security presence 2 Market/supermarket in vicinity 4 Access to primary health facility | Negative Drivers Weighting Dense vegetation 3 High Crime rate 5 Multiple land sales/dispute 4 Frequent communal feud 4 Plot size limitation 2 Not favoured by family 5 |
Ideal state: the plot should be low in cost of acquisition/landfills, availability of infrastructure, low crime rate, land free of encumbrance, access to health care/schools, favoured by family and ready for immediate development.
Selection of alternative: The selected alternative is D as it fulfils the ideal state of my choice of land location to a large extent. Though on the outskirts; cities don’t stop growing and the fact that am a non-resident and a seasonal visitor in no hurry to any place within the city centre.
Recommendation:
Lawyer to be engaged to ascertain authenticity of ownership and if any dispute.
Family to be engaged further to get their buy in.
To visit lands ministry to verify if land is under government acquisition.
Negotiation to commence on purchase of land after steps 1, 2 and 3.
Provide additional security.
Reference
The Memory Jogger 2 Second Edition 2010 –‘ Tool for continuous Improvement and effective planning’ by Michael Brassard and Diane Ritter
OK posting, Idubamo, well set up, and I will accept it, but for future postings, I am looking for something a little bit more sophisticated. You cited Memory Jogger 2, but which tools did you use? It appears as though you used Force Field Analysis (MJII, page 86) but if so, you didn't use it completely or correctly. There should have been one force field for each option.
ReplyDeleteAlso for future postings, I expect to see at least three references for each posting. You could have also used the prioritization matrix (MJII page 136) or better yet, if you have access to a copy of your Engineering Economy, 14th Edition, Chapter 14 offers several different approaches to solving this type of very common problem.
Bottom line, while I am accepting this weeks posting, after you get your Engineering Economy, I would like to see you applying some of the more sophisticated tools/techniques to solving this same problem.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta