Imo Traders Get Approval To Own Housing Estate

Plots of land at Irrete, Owerri West local government area of Imo state have been mapped out by government as Imo State Amalgamated Traders Association (ISAMATA) Estate where Imo traders are expected to build and own their houses.

President of ISAMATA, Emmanuel Ezeanochie, stated this at a meeting with members of the association duing the week. He added that the Federal Mortgage Bank(FMB) would handle the construction and it is expected that all members would be living in and operating from the estate.

It was gathered that the sum of N150,000 would take care of registration for members willing to own a house in the estate and N2,500 would be paid every month to assist in the building.

While on completion of the building as traders take possession, a certain percentage on the price of building would be paid, spreading for 60 years.

The ISAMATA president, through the woman leader also stated that a new official cup and Mudu to be used by traders who sell food stuffs like rice, garri, beans etc have been approved by government. The cup known as Consumer Protection Council (CPC) cup is described as a standard cup.

A representative of the Director General of the CPC, Imo state who was present at the meeting, pleaded with the traders to allow it hit the market as any quantity gotten from it remain the standard quantity and that there would be no fraud attached to it.

The highlight of the meeting was the distribution of bags of Imo rice to all traders who attended the meeting.

In a chat with newsmen later, the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Simeon Ebegbulem, had commended Imo traders for their continued support to the governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma which started during the last election.

He said it was in that spirit that he pleaded with the governor to approve some bags of rice to traders in appreciation and assured them that more
goodies would be coming their way in the months ahead.

The commissioner seized the opportunity to alert the people of Imo about some of the development plans of government in the state as it concerns his ministry.

He said investors were expected from Israel to come and inspect the Avutu Poultry Farm. He hoped that the visit would afford the state the opportunity to be cultivating the special feeds needed to feed the chicken in the farm, instead of importing them and incurring huge cost.

He also gave assurance that the Standard Shoe factory in Owerri would soon commence production as the initial bottleneck against its production commencement had been removed.

Ebegbulem assured investors that the Owerri Industrial Estate would soon come back to life as government had concluded plans to rehabilitate the major roads in the estate and bring in facilities that would make investors happy to come in and develop the state.