Residents of Meridian Luxury Park Estate in the Awoyaya, Lekki area of Lagos State, are currently at loggerheads with the management of an independent real estate firm, Lekki Gardens, over what they described as its refusal to complete some projects in the estate.

City Round gathered that the residents were angry that after almost a year of residential occupancy, the firm had yet to deliver vital infrastructure such as recreation centre, partitioning of terrace units, green areas, good road link between the two roads in the estate and children’s playground as stated in its marketing brochure.

The residents also said the company forced a non-independent subsidiary firm on them to manage the facilities in the estate, accusing it of non-provision of a central sewage processing plant thereby exposing their health to environmental hazard.

One of the residents who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity said there was perpetual flooding of parts of the estate, especially some residential areas due to blocked and uncompleted drainage system.

The resident said, “Water facility is grossly inadequate. This is because the storage capacity of the water tank cannot sustain about 30 residential units up to 12 hours for an estate projected to accommodate about 500 residential units.

“The borehole system installed has no redundancy or backup, resulting in extended periods of water outages during breakdowns. This causes us untold hardship and we have to source water independently outside the estate.’’

Chairman, Meridian Park Estate Resident Association, Awoyaya, Mr Kunle Fagbayi, said the residents were coerced to pay a N300, 000 connection fee as prerequisite before connected to electricity in the estate.

He stated, “The amount was later explained to be for acquisition of generators. However, the current generators purchased for the estate is inadequate to effectively power the current occupancy of the estate. The residents association requested an audit of the money collected by the firm which is a subsidiary of Lekki Gardens which also serves as the facility manager. But the money was not accounted for till date.

“Lekki Gardens also failed to honour contractual agreements such as delivering housing units different from what was advertised and agreed with buyers, late delivery of housing units contrary to what was in the offer letters issued to buyers and using three years to deliver homes as against the nine months promised.’’

Fagbayi noted that buyers made payments based on commitments, house prototypes based on brochures covering types of houses and expected infrastructure.

He said they sent several letters to the firm concerning the issues raised and it made promises without abiding by any, adding the company had refused to honour calls for meetings on the matter.

Noting that the residents started living in the estate since November 2018, Fagbayi stated that the association had explored all options to resolve the matter.

He said, “Our demand is for the firm to, within the shortest possible period, fulfill its contractual obligations by implementing the infrastructure it promised the residents when they were buying into the estate.’’

Reacting to the allegations, spokesperson for Lekki Gardens, Mr Bolaji Abimbola, said Lekki Gardens didn’t renege on the promises it made to residents of the estate. He added that the firm felt the pulse of residents and understood the issues they raised.

Abimbola said, “The last part of any project we build are the recreation facilities. We are not shying away from our responsibilities to our customers. On October 1, we were at the estate for dialogue but they were not available. We sent letter a letter notifying them of the meeting. They have even asked a lawyer to write us on the issue.’’

He also envisaged a reduction in the facility management cost being paid by the occupants once the estate was fully occupied as the cost would then be spread across other residents.

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