An Examination of the Procedures for Valuing Contaminated Land in Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

Contamination is a process by which any material or immaterial substance has environmental impact, and this should be taken into consideration when determining land/landed property values. On the other hand, contaminated land is a land that has been polluted as a result of contact with hazardous substances from industrial or commercial operations carried out on and around the site over a period of years. There have been various contamination issues in Nigeria, especially in the oil rich Niger Delta, that required compensation to be paid to the affected persons based on the assessed value of the properties. The focus of this paper is on the procedures adopted in carrying out the valuation of contaminated land in Rivers State. Data collection was primarily by administration of questionnaire to practicing Estate Surveyors and Valuers in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. A total of 120 copies of the questionnaire were administered on the respondents while 80 (66.7%) was retrieved and used for this study. The study unearthed that the procedures involved in the valuation of contaminated land include definition of problem, determining the scope of the land and its resources/use, data collection from scientific investigation and analysis, selection of valuation method and valuation to produce report. The proportion of the respondents that adopted all the stages ranged between 85.9% and 94.4%. The study therefore recommends that respondents yet to adopt the stages should gear up effort in adopting the procedures to the yearnings and aspirations of the stakeholders, especially the affected/expropriated land owners.