Mustapha Njie has worked with REIDsteel for over 20 years. He has used REIDsteel services to build housing and even a hotel in The Gambia.
He has further expanded to Senegal and Mali. His company TAF Holdings are recognised within the West African sub region for their high quality builds that are executed quickly and accurately.
Recently, TAF has been involved with a joint venture with the River State Government in Nigeria.
This project is collectively known as RIVTAF. Nigeria has the second largest economy in Africa with a GDP of $268.708billion (World Bank 2012), which has created a huge surge in the demand for affordable housing.
The RIVTAF partnership offers potential buyers a new home and the finance deal to secure it. TAF says that public private partnerships like this are vital in delivering housing across Africa.
TAF has more than 30 years’ experience in the construction industry and works hard to pass on knowledge via an on-site training programme.
TAF’s projects mean an expansion of local jobs for a wide variety of workers, including engineers, electricians, builders and construction labourers.
The achievements of TAF have been recognised; Njie has won many accolades, including being named three times The Gambian Businessman of the Year.
He has also won European Council for Global Business award in 1998 for ‘Quality and Excellence’ and the Africa SMME in Construction award in 2004.
The RIVTAF project creates a whole new town within the Port Harcourt region, The Golf Estate. The development covers 40 hectares and includes the construction of 900 housing units.
The project is valued at $160million and will take just 30 months to complete. The development plan includes a mix of housing, from two bedroom apartments to luxury villas.
Built around a golf course, other amenities available will be a club house, swimming pool, tennis courts, jogging / bicycle track, a sports hall as well as a shopping centre and recreation centre.
TAF has made use of their established relationships with good suppliers and banks. The project has incorporated local materials and labour.
However, it has also used the international market by reaching out to a South Africa-based architects, SVA architects (www.svarchitects.com) and Belgian manufacturers for the roof tiles.
There are also finishing materials from China and steel construction materials from REIDsteel, here in Dorset.
REIDsteel designed and fabricated all the steel for each structure of the project and shipped the loads to Nigeria in 20ft and 40ft containers with all accessories.
This meant that once they arrived TAF’s workmen could easily and quickly assemble the buildings. TAF says of our frames, “They are rigid, earthquake resistant and they look like conventional buildings, but it is a much faster and more affordable method of building”.
TAF Nigeria Homes were responsible for the construction, finance and marketing of the whole project and have done a successful job in doing so. 60% of the new estate has already been sold. In some quarters in Port Harcourt, it’s called the ‘Magic Project’, given the speed that the steel is being erected.
TAF hopes this will encourage other state governments to invest in more such partnership projects; for the good of the local and African-wide economy.
