Ghana’s housing deficit requires a serious Public-Private Partnership approach to alleviate the plight of the average Ghanaian to obtain decent and affordable accommodation, the president of GREDA, Dr Alexander Tweneboah has said.
Dr Tweneboa said Ghana’s housing deficit currently stands at over 1.5million housing units in 2010.
This situation he said posed enormous challenges for any government to deal with adding that the government alone was not in a position to address these challenges alone.
These issues can best be addressed within the framework of a Public-Private Partnership (PPP).
According to him, 80 per cent of the country’s population currently falls within the housing deficit.
Speaking in an interview with the Graphic Business, Dr Tweneboa said currently it is estimated that over 70,000 housing units are required annually to bridge the huge housing deficit while some studies have suggested that over 45 to 50 per cent of Ghanaians live in inner city slums, uncompleted homes, temporary structures, containers, kiosks and poorly constructed houses.
He also explained that no developed country had been able to build social level houses with the private sector alone and said the association was thus ready to partner stakeholders who are ready to help reduce the deficit.
GREDA, he said was currently holding discussions with a syndicate of local banks to raise in excess of US$40m on a revolving basis to commence the first phase of the affordable housing project involving the construction of about 1,200 housing units or apartments every year.
This number he said would however be ramped-up when more funds are secured by the association through partnership.
Focusing on the real estate industry, Dr Tweneboa explained that it is faced with several challenges, some of which comprised land issues, high cost of materials, less infrastructural systems, high interest rates and the lack of a good financial system to support real estate developers.
Housing finance he also explained was an important initiative that the banks had to support and advised government to see real estate as an expenditure item which funds should be allocated for.
Reacting to some misconceptions in the media over GREDA’s position over the recent decision of the government to award a South African group the opportunity to construct 500 affordable houses for Ghanaians, he said GREDA’s expression of disappointment was aimed more at the government for its lack of response to the overtures that GREDA had been making for the government’s assistance.
“As we are all aware with the current deficit in housing that the country is facing the construction of 500 units is miniscule as compared to the numbers required,” he said
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