President Nana Akufo-Addo has ordered the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry to come up with new methods to develop less expensive dwellings for Ghanaians.
“I hear in Ghana, a simple three-bedroom home in East Legon costs between $354,000 and $500,000.”
“Many places of America get mansions for that”, he said.
This is because the materials used to build homes in the UK are local and affordable.
To create sturdy and affordable homes across the nation, President Obama encouraged the Chamber.
In October 2021, the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Francis Asenso-Boakye, said that the government, via his ministry, “has devised a framework to drive a new affordable housing programme”.
On Tuesday, October 19, 2021, during the Business 24 Real Estate Conference 2021 in Accra, he remarked, “This framework aspires to deploy a suitable combination of public and private sector investments that satisfy the demands and financial capability of the typical Ghanaian”.
“The ministry has identified each of the components of cost drivers that contribute to the cost of an affordable housing unit and has drawn out particular tactics aimed at each of these,” he added.
In terms of housing delivery, he says the emphasis is on the complete ecosystem:
1. Land via reclaiming public land and working with traditional leaders, focusing on transportation and using existing infrastructure.
2. Infrastructure finance and synergies with other infrastructure industries.
3. Local construction materials and housing costs
4. Establishing space guidelines to profit from economies of scale and reduce waste
5. And long-term mortgage financing as well as sustainable building funding
As part of the affordable housing initiative, the government will provide land, infrastructure, and tax incentives and exemptions to help lower building costs by up to 40%.
“We think this will be key in resolving supply side constraints”, he said.
To boost the demand side of the housing market and provide more affordable homes for low- to middle-income workers, he said that “the government plans to scale up the National Housing and Mortgage Fund launched in 2020”.
“How potential homeowners may utilize their tier-2 and tier-3 pension savings to assist their mortgage, notably in the area of initial deposit,” he said.
In terms of using local resources for construction, he said, “the ministry is prepared to be a forerunner”.
According to Mr Asenso-Boakye, this approach has resulted in lower building costs in the long term.
“Every developer who wishes to work with the government in our affordable housing campaign will embrace the utilization of local building materials such as burned bricks, compressed earth blocks, etc.”
This, he believes, would help to decrease construction costs, assure affordable homes and promote the local economy.
“Without the government giving guarantees and offtakers to encourage private sector developers”, Mr Asenso-Boakye said.
“Let me use this opportunity to urge all housing developers to embrace the current government framework and partner with banks and other financial institutions to invest more in the provision of affordable housing where the housing deficit is prevalent”, he said.
“This is the only way we can reach the majority of our countrymen and positively impact their lives,” he stated.
