Examination Of The Effects Of Road Expansion Projects On Property Values In Orlu Urban Imo State

ABSTRACT

In every country, availability of road expansion contributes greatly to the development of that country. Road expansion are part of infrastructure, without this infrastructure (road expansion) a country will remain undeveloped. This is because investors will not likely be interested in investing in a country where there no good or adequate roads thereby diminishing the economy of that country. In Orlu Urban area of Imo State there are various road networks which most of them are expanded that link each L.G.A to each other, therefore this research work is aimed at finding out how the roads in Orlu contributes to the values of properties around the area with the objectives of examining the problems associated with the roads in the area and how to curb them. This will be achieved through the use of questionnaires which will be distributed to the inhabitants of the area.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Transportation and property are important in physical and economic development of towns and cities all over the world. Property and land values tend to increase in areas with expanding transportation networks, and increase less rapidly in areas without such improvements. Rapid and continued rise in housing and land prices are expected in cities with transportation improvements and rapid economic and population growth.

Man, nations, regions and the world would be severely limited in development without transportation, which is a key factor for physical and economic growth (Oyesiku, 2002). Transportation systems and land use are interdependent. Indeed findings of earlier studies indicate compelling and consistent connections amongst them (Ewing and Cervero, 2001; Polzin, 2004). According to Bailey, Mokhtarian, and Littlel (2008), transportation route is part of distinct development pattern or road Expansion and mostly described by regular street patterns as an indispensable factor of human existence, development and civilization. The route road expansion with increased transport investment result in changed levels of accessibility reflected through Cost Benefit Analysis, savings in travel time, and other benefits. These benefits are noticeable in increased catchment areas for services and facilities like shops, schools, offices, banks, and leisure activities.

Road expansion are observed in terms of its components of accessibility, connectivity, traffic density, level of service, compactness, and density of particular roads. Level of service is a measure by which the quality of service on transportation devices or infrastructure is determined, and it is a holistic approach considering several factors regarded as measures of traffic density and congestion rather than overall speed of the journey (Mannering, Walter, and Scott, 2004).

Access to major roads provides relative advantages consequent upon which commercial users locate to enjoy the advantages. Modern businesses, industries, trades and general activities depend on transport and transport infrastructure, with movement of goods and services from place to place becoming vital and inseparable aspects of global and urban economic survival (Said and Shah, 2008). This partly caused increase in demand for commercial space and its concomitant effects on commercial property values along arterial roads in the metropolis.

The present position concerning commercial properties in Orlu urban is that majority are located along arterial roads that deliver much of the vehicular and pedestrian movements. There have been increases in rental values along the individual arterial roads although not at equal rates. It is against this background that this research analyzed the arterial roads, determined the levels of accessibility, connectivity, traffic density of the individual arterial roads, examined the pattern of commercial property values and the relationship between the explanatory variables of road expansion in Orlu urban.

1.2     STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

The relationship between transportation and urban property values has been the focus of many studies (Singh, 2005). Some of the earlier studies returned positive relationship between transport and property values while others showed negative relationship. There was evidence that residential property prices decrease immediately around the transport investment or station value uplift through changes in land values (Singh, 2005).

The urban areas all over the world offer a number of advantages in terms of concentration of people followed by demand for commercial properties and transportation. Construction of roads increased substantially with the opening up of residential precincts that also benefitted from increasing demand for lettable spaces in commercial properties.

The roads exhibit a number of nodes and linkages to form networks of both arterial and minor routes along which commercial properties locate. Commercial users displaced residential users, causing sites to be at highest and best uses with concomitant increases in the values of commercial properties. Accessibility within the road expansion is affected by the compact nature of various routes that sometimes impede volume of traffic. The road expansion is made up of nodal points and links that determine the degree of connectivity and accessibility in the network.

Many of the aforementioned studies emphasized the effects of the factors on values of properties generally with little consideration given to road expansion pattern and its effects on values of commercial properties. Possible relationships between road expansion, location attribute, demand and supply, and accessibility and commercial property values have therefore elicited the interest of the researcher in this direction. The relationship cannot be determined without due consideration given to the explanatory variables on one hand and commercial property values on the other.

The use of roads leads to a study of urban areas in relation to land uses, especially property values. It is against this background that this study was conceived.

1.3     AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

The aim of this research is to examine the effects of road expansion projects and property values in Orlu urban Imo State, while the specific objectives are to;

1. Identify the arterial road expansion pattern in the study area;
2. Identify the spatial pattern and trend of demand, supply and values of properties in the study area;
3. Determine the relationships between property values and road network, in the presence or absence of other variables, in the study area;
4. Determine the contributions of individual explanatory variables to variability in property values in the study area;
5. Derive models for predicting variability in property values in relation to the explanatory variables.

1.4     RESEARCH QUESTION

For the purpose of this research work, the following research questions were formulated.

1. What is the pattern of arterial road expansion in Orlu urban?
2. What are the spatial pattern and trend of property values in the study area?
3. What are the relationships between property values and arterial road expansion in the presence or absence of other explanatory variables?
4. What are the individual contributions of the explanatory variables to variability in property values?
5. What are the models to explain and predict the relationship between the explanatory variables and property values?

1.5     RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Consequently, the following hypotheses were postulated:

1. There is no significant relationship between property values and independent explanatory variables in the study area.
2. There are no differences in individual contributions of explanatory variables to variability in property values in the study area.

1.6     SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Roads may be classified as international, inter-city or intra-city. International and Inter-city roads are usually major or arterial roads, while intra-city roads are routes

Within a city and may be minor or major (arterial). The study focused on arterial roads in the intra-urban network of Orlu. There are ninety roads in Orlu out which thirty seven are arterial. From the thirty-seven arterial roads in the study area, only twenty traverse the commercial axes while others serve institutional, industrial, and residential neighborhoods. This study therefore covered all major roads serving the commercial axis and inner areas of Orlu to the exclusion of inter-city roads such as Orlu/Owerri express way and Orlu/Ihiala express way.

Preliminary study revealed that there are five types of commercial properties in the study area. These are retail shop premises, banking spaces, office properties, warehouses, and non-specific commercial properties. In respect of this research, focus was on offices, shops, banking spaces and other types of commercial users along the arterial routes to the exclusion of residential, industrial, and non-specific type of commercial properties.

Due to the magnitude, terrain and complex nature Imo State roads, the study was limited to Orlu intra-city roads. Orlu is the predominant component of Orlu Local Government, which itself is one of three zones identified within the larger Imo. The three zones (Owerri, Orlu, and Okigwe) represent commercial hubs of Imo state, which as revealed by preliminary observation, shows activity areas where employment, commercial, transportation terminals, and other businesses are concentrated.

1.7     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY  

The study is vital because of the following reasons:

1. It is expected to benefit the government and their decision taken process as it concerns with the provision and maintenance of road in orlu.
2. Imo state government will benefit from the study, especially the solution and the recommendation to the traffic congestion in orlu metropolis.
3. It will help the property investors to know the type of real property investment required in a given area.
4. The outcome of this research will be very educative, instructive, informative, and capable of shaping the awareness of the general public on the current road provision and situation in Nigeria especially in Orlu of Imo state

1.8     THE STUDY AREA

Orlu city is a large component of Imo State. Imo State itself is the large city in Nigeria.

However Orlu remains the commercial nerve centre of Imo. The city is a typical example in the history of growth and development of urban areas in Nigeria. The Eastern Region administered the city along with Okigwe, Owerri, Mbaise, Oguta, Mgbidi.

In the general context, Imo State is made up of twenty seven local government council areas, which Orlu has twelve local government areas. The major roads in the Sector have undergone a change from residential to commercial use.

Map of Orlu Urban road network

FIG 1.1: Map of Orlu                                                                                       

Source: Google Map                                                                             

Pages:  75

Category: Project

Format:  Word & PDF        

Chapters: 1-5

Material contains Table of Content, Abstract and References.