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gambia6005
Canada
79 Posts |
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jambo
3300 Posts |
 Posted - 04 Oct 2006 : 19:59:59
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vrey basic nice pictures of houses, but seems expensive 200 punds per sq metre |
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LEMON TIME
Afghanistan
1295 Posts |
Posted - 05 Oct 2006 : 00:36:02
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| very expensive in deed its cheaper to hire local contractors and build it yourself. |
There is no god but Allah |
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gambia6005
Canada
79 Posts |
Posted - 09 Oct 2006 : 09:26:43
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What sets Value Engineering apart?
1. Craftsmanship. It's simple. Skilled craftspeople build the finest homes. We've got some of the best!
2. Personal Attention. Your new home will receive the full attention of the Owner, Adama Samba. who personally inspects each home, every day!
3. Experience. We have been in construction since 1986
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 09 Oct 2006 : 23:36:42
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Well you now tell us you own the company. However the wollofs say KU RACHA TAYE SA KANAM or in Mandinka MOMO KAFO ILA BORO LEYEH TIEW TIEW.
I will put you guys to a test and see if you pass. I will be an anonymous customer. Before the end of the week Kondorong will be in your office but dont grab any short person you see. I have just cut my long beard and added a few inches to my height. |
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gambia6005
Canada
79 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2006 : 11:36:55
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dear mister kondorong,I am not adada samba-my name is jenny walker
but I am a customer and happy to sat so ;the man build my house in brusubi and I am very pleased with that fact-
can you please send me a private e-mail I have information to share and you like to me an important man with authotity
please do
gambia 6005 |
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LEMON TIME
Afghanistan
1295 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2006 : 15:42:35
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| nice one kondorong,its all about making fat profit. |
There is no god but Allah |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2006 : 18:12:24
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quote:
Originally posted by gambia6005
What sets Value Engineering apart?
1. Craftsmanship. It's simple. Skilled craftspeople build the finest homes. We've got some of the best!
2. Personal Attention. Your new home will receive the full attention of the Owner, Adama Samba. who personally inspects each home, every day!
3. Experience. We have been in construction since 1986
Hello Jonny Walker
You have always use the word "WE" SUGGESTING A PARTNERSHIP. Who is the WE if you were only a customer. Have you been appointed as a spokes person for them. Then that makes you one and the same. Like the Fulani say : MBURU FOFF KO FORINGE or better still, an apple does not fall far from the tree.
But honestly, you will agree with me that real estate is over valued in the Gambia. It really makes no sense that a plot of land in Tanje measuring 20meters x 20 meters can cost more than 10 years salary of a Permanent Secratary with no access to water or electricity. A similar land size in Fajara will cost 2, 000, 000.00 dalsis about 34 years salary of a Permanent Secratary assuming that he/she started work as permanent seceratry at age 21 and retires at age 55. Also assuming that s/he does not pay tax, never spends his salary for anything which is impossible. Certainly it used to take atleast 15 years service for most people to reach the level of Permanent secretary and many more who never ever get to grade 10 or 11. Mind you this is just an empty plot.
However, until recently, it has become an easy and fast ride to become one. For some a mere three years can rocket them to the position.
If you cannot afford land in your own country, then its time to move on somewhere else. At the current rates, no public officer will be able to afford an empty land let alone build.
By the way this is Ramadan and no Jonny Walker for now.
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Edited by - kondorong on 10 Oct 2006 18:54:42 |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2006 : 18:57:09
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I would definitely endorse Value Engineering and Adama Samba's team. Adama Samba is a nice gentleman and fought extremely hard under very difficult and competitive conditions to established this company. He has lot of experience and commits himself to deliver the goods as an entrepreneur and professional engineer. Adama has a cute smile awaiting his customers. You are all welcome to value Engineering website.
To say the least this company is his survival for any Gambian to envy his position. Its REALLY HARD TO PROSPER OR SURVIVE IN GAMBIA AND OUR GAMBIAN ENTREPRENEUR ARE ALWAYS SHUN FOR FOREIGNERS.
There are lots of opportunities for Gambians but you don't get any support or credit for your humble efforts. This company have been thriving for many years now and he benefits a lot from a close relative (TAF) with a GIANT CONSTRUCTION COMPANY IN GAMBIA. |
Edited by - kobo on 10 Oct 2006 18:59:01 |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2006 : 19:10:18
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Well good for him and we wish him all the best. However in Yoro Bawol, such houses are beyond our reach. We are hoping to one day be financially "sufficient". Value Engineering will see us when we have ruunning water, electricity and telephones in Yoro Bawol. I like to support local enterpreneurs but just like the mandinkas say: DONG DIYATA KUTO YEH, BARRI TEH TA LA( A tortoise likes to dance, but it has no waist)
Until then, we can only hope that we will get our dinner this evening in Yoro Bawol. |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2006 : 19:19:28
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Kondorong. Value Engineering is a well equiped company and deliver value for money. Building a house in Gambia is exhorbitant as the inflation rate is high and have a great impact on the building materials and labour costs. Basalt is coming all the way from Senegal. Such houses on display should cost nothing less than between D750k to 1 million Dalasi
Private businesses makes extra efforts to profiteer also. Thats a package deal for sustainability. |
Edited by - kobo on 10 Oct 2006 19:29:15 |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2006 : 19:36:50
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Well those who can afford a one million dalasi house good luck to them. Rememeber that we dont have a well organised real estate sytem where mortages are available on terms. Its what the senegalse call TEK MA TEK. Cash payments have to be only option. To save one milion dalasis from an average monthly salary of D900.00 in public service is "impossible".
Well again i have decided never to say never. I am not arguing as to whether Value Engineering is or is not a highly professional company. I am only lamenting the high cost of building and even the empty land. |
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njucks
Gambia
1131 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2006 : 19:48:35
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quote:
Originally posted by kobo
To say the least this company is his survival for any Gambian to envy his position. Its REALLY HARD TO PROSPER OR SURVIVE IN GAMBIA AND OUR GAMBIAN ENTREPRENEUR ARE ALWAYS SHUN FOR FOREIGNERS.
well said Kobo. Kondorong you continue to surprise me despite all your good postings. your text on real estate prices is surprising after so many previous good suggestions on economics! however i cannot let it pass as usual, i have to CORRECT you.
i do not see the link you are trying to make between a Permanent Secretary and the cost of land. Its a free market. to ignore all the variables is just being silly, honestly.
like all over the world the price of land/real estate is a function of location, size, ammenities, level of development , neighbourhood etc. this has nothing to do with how much a public servant earns. a Native of Tanji has every right to sell a square inch of his land for £1m if someone is willing to buy it.
secondly you have to consider what people do with the land after wards, whether they build a hotel on it and make millions or just a house will affect the original price.
furthermore in a free market economy things dont have to be worth what they look like in real terms. If David Beckham moved to Tanji the prices would sky rocket creating a secondary ''gold rush''. what this means is that land itself can be an investment to be resold later.
even things like September 11 can increase rent/land prices. for example if you rented your house to the american embassy due to the security risks involved prices can go up considerables. just as if you were a neighbour to the US/UK ambassador it could affect house prices.
i can give you an infinite number of variables, non includes the Salary of a Permanent Secretary.
IT MAKES SENSE THAT A 20m X 20m IN TANJI IS 1000 TIMES THE SALARY OF A PERMENENT SECRETARY, ITS CALL CAPITALISM AND FREE MARKET!
In the 1970s many people got hectares of land for merely a kola nut, today they're selling pieces of it for millions and laughing all the way to the bank.
perhaps you want this to continue, there is no guarantee that those buying land today cheap are not going to sell when David Beckham moves next door! especially if they're foreign!!!!!!!!!!
NEVER fix prices in a free market! |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2006 : 20:13:11
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I am not fixing prices. However, the capitalism or free market you talk about dont seem to be operating in many instances.
The issue here is affordability. In the societies you talked about, citizens have a reasonable ability to afford housing. The prices we see in the Gambia are well beyond the means of citizens. What we need to look at is the real value of incomes in relation to COST OF LIVING. You will agree that in the capitalist societies, one hour’s wage can provide a meal. In the Gambia, one hour wage of a driver earning 500.00 is D2.50 assuming he works for 8 hours and 25 days in a month. D2.50 cannot even afford bus pass to work.
There are so many economic distortions for one to champion a free market in the Gambia
You quoted Kobo's posting about envy. If there is any envy i have for him, is to have the courage he has to start his own business. It takes a practical person to do so. I so wish i could have the courage. As to envy his success is certainly not me. Success is relative, and certainly money is not what I call success. To be able to put a smiling face on someone is what I consider success rather “ laughing all the way to the bank” duping people and charging SUPER NORMAL PROFITS.
Read my posting above. I have nothing against the company. I am a concerned Gambian worrying about how high cost of land has become. May be only the Beckham's will afford land at home.
I used the analogy of Permanent Secretary, because that IS the highest paid civil servant only to the Secretary General. May be this will help you figure out what such prices mean to commoners like Drivers, messengers, Cleaners earning 10 times less than a Permanent Secretary. You do the math. All these people are important in the economy and they should have hope to own a descent house, which has now become a fantasy or a wild dream.
Unfortunately, even state land, which used to cost less than 200.00 until 1994, is now being sold for D185, 000.00 around old Yundum. Most civil servants in Kotu only paid survey fees to help them own some dwelling homes. I like free market but with compassion. To say it’s a free for all and that we can charge whatever we want is to ignore reality.
Sadly such a move will ultimately make land only available to the Beckhams as you rightly said.
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Edited by - kondorong on 10 Oct 2006 20:15:15 |
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njucks
Gambia
1131 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2006 : 20:32:39
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 ok i didnt get the envy part. i know you dont have anything against the company and i'm certain you wouldnt care less if i thought you did.i quoted kobo to show that many gambians find it hard to start business and continue largely due to poor local support.
but i think its also important to look at it another way. Just because a civil servant has a low wage SHOULD NOT stop an even poorer,UNEMPLOYED villager to sell his/her land to earn an income to pay school fess for example. hence if that villager is to earn a million its a good thing, its sad the civil servant (who has a job) can't buy it but civil servants are not the only gambians and they could/used to have government benefits other gambians dont have on a daily basis.
i have always wondered these what landowners some of them native people in tanji, brufut, bijilo do with D500,000. its a lot of money just for selling ancestral land you're right but do they make use of this money. my point is maybe it is the old government driver from Yundum who is selling his land to make ends meet?
but sadly unlike other countries like in the UK house/land prices/income is not registered in the 'formal' economy as a serious sector and indicator of GDP etc and these peoples' new found wealth doesnt get registered as income.
they are registered as ''earning less than a $1.00 a day'' even though the sale of a small plot is 100 times the average yearly per capita income.
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2006 : 21:34:40
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To clarify on the envy point is based on the resolutions to return home and start your own business venture and work over a number of years to maintain its momentum of survival in Gambian economic and political conditions. Thats a real challenge and any one who can make a success story in setting a successful business enterprise under those climate; is inspirational and deserved to be envied.
However Kondorong you have valid points on affordability. But even when Government working with Social Security Housing Finance Schemes under various projects e.g Brushubi, many Gambians have been allocated land but are stock to construct a good building. Some have taken loans by mortgage of their title deeds to almost D150K but cout not finish their standard houses with the amenities they need for a modern house. Its policy, economics and market forces at play here. |
Edited by - kobo on 10 Oct 2006 21:41:11 |
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