Eco Buildings' Albani: "A need for half a million houses" in Gambia housing push

Eco Buildings' Albani: "A need for half a million houses" in Gambia housing push

Proactive

Mon, September 21, 2026 at 6:17 PM GMT+3

• ECOB.L +3.16%

Eco Buildings Group PLC (AIM:ECOB, FRA:9ZL0) executive vice chairman Dr Etrur Albani spoke with Proactive's Stephen Gunnion about the company's framework for a minimum of 10,000 homes in The Gambia, starting with an initial 1,000, alongside plans for manufacturing capacity in the country.

Albani said the opportunity reflects both substantial housing demand and growing interest in Eco Buildings' approach to tackling the shortage: "There is a need for half a million houses."

The company plans to begin by working with the Gambian government to determine the types of housing needed for public-sector workers, including police, army personnel, teachers and nurses, with Albani indicating longer-term ambitions could extend beyond residential construction into areas such as hospitals.

He explained that Eco Buildings is discussing financing arrangements with the Gambian government, including potential further investment from sources such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

Albani also discussed plans for manufacturing capacity in The Gambia, with the company considering a two-line production configuration that could reduce some ancillary costs compared with establishing lines separately.

Looking further ahead, Albani said Eco Buildings sees scope for considerably greater capacity as it develops The Gambia into a manufacturing and export hub, estimating a minimum of another 10 production lines could ultimately be established in the country over the next five years.

Visit Proactive's YouTube channel for more videos and interviews. Don't forget to give the video a like, subscribe to the channel and enable notifications for future content.

#EcoBuildings #EcoBuildingsGroup #Gambia #TheGambia #Housing #AffordableHousing #HousingDevelopment #Construction #Manufacturing #ModularHousing #SustainableConstruction #PropertyDevelopment #AfricanDevelopment #Infrastructure #Investing #ProactiveInvestors

00:01 Dr. Etur Albani

10,000 is a drip in the ocean in Gambia. We will need minimum, minimum, minimum there is a need for half a million houses.

00:13 Stephen

Hello, you're watching Proactive. I'm joined by Eco Buildings's executive vice chairman, Dr. Atur Albani.

00:20 Stephen

Atur, very good to speak with you. You've signed a framework for a minimum 10,000 homes in the Gambia, starting with 1,000. How significant is this opportunity for eco buildings?

00:30 Dr. Etur Albani

a good afternoon, Stephen. Uh as I said previously in in previous uh interviews, watch this space.

00:41 Dr. Etur Albani

Uh Eco building, first of all is is in a great demand. Uh, not just because of a housing that it is in demand, it is because people started to react to the innovation that we put and we put forward in order to tackle housing problem.

01:00 Dr. Etur Albani

Uh Gambia, it's very close to my heart. Um I'm sort of locked to the to to to Gambia as a country.

01:10 Dr. Etur Albani

Uh and it's so much to do there.

01:14 Dr. Etur Albani

This is just the first step uh to tackle the housing problem. Uh we will start building housing, uh for for for uh a government official, for uh school teachers and then we will end up with building hospitals and furthermore.

01:21 Dr. Etur Albani

So it's a it's a it's a one of many steps that we're doing there in Gambia and in a region of uh Evas.

01:28 Stephen

Well, I mean the next step is to establish Nuko and agree the definitive investment, financing and manufacturing agreements. What needs to happen before you can start building?

01:42 Dr. Etur Albani

Uh we we need, first of all, we need to set the plans which we are negotiating, we are discussing with the government of Gambia, uh what sort of a housing we we are building for for uh government officials.

01:58 Dr. Etur Albani

In this sense, police, army, teachers, school nurses, then once we said this, we're looking how to find the investment and probably replicate what we're doing in Chile.

02:12 Dr. Etur Albani

So the government will secure it and then we will find a way of uh implementing that on a long-term mortgages or being different.

02:22 Stephen

It sure you're planning a manufacturing facility capable of producing around six homes a day per production line. What will the Gambian operation look look like and how will you fund it?

02:40 Dr. Etur Albani

Uh, the the it's one line. Now what we're doing, the next stage of our uh AI based uh uh production line, we are putting back to back.

02:54 Dr. Etur Albani

So instead of building two line 1 plus one, we're building two lines at once. So and that will reduce some auxiliary uh uh uh uh so it will be cheaper than buying one plus one to buy two at once. So that's the plan that we are we we are discussing with the Gambian government.

03:14 Dr. Etur Albani

How the financing will look like, uh we are in a deep discussion with the government how to security it, how to

03:25 Dr. Etur Albani

to secure the further investment being that from World Bank or any other organization or African Bank for Development. But this is the beginning of a very fruitful and a change of Gambian Gambian uh landscape.

03:47 Stephen

Uh you you already mentioned you want the Gambia to become a manufacturing and export hub for ECOwas. How much further could this opportunity extend beyond the initial 10,000 home program?

04:06 Dr. Etur Albani

Uh 10,000 is a drip in the ocean in Gambia. We will need minimum, minimum, minimum there is a need for half a million houses.

04:18 Dr. Etur Albani

Uh even if you had a magic wand, you will not be able to tackle that problem unless there is a new tech like ours.

04:26 Dr. Etur Albani

So uh uh how big it will be? We estimate that it has to be because we put two lines and these two lines feed the further two, further more and it goes like a pyramid. Uh uh uh uh so how many lines we we estimate to end up in next five years in Gambia, minimum another 10.

04:47 Stephen

Atur, what's next for eco buildings?

04:50 Dr. Etur Albani

Watch this space.

04:52 Stephen

We'll be watching it and I hope we'll be the first to hear about it. Atur, thank you very much for your time today.

04:59 Dr. Etur Albani

Thank you very much. Thank you.

05:01 Stephen

That's Dr. Albani, executive vice chairman of eco buildings.