GREDA asks for government’s intervention

The Ghana Real Estate Developers' Association has urged the government to act on the energy crisis that has led to the shortage of cement and the subsequent price hikes of the product.

Stakeholders also believe that the prices of cement shot up due a drop in supply in the face of increased construction work.

The situation is likely to force housing prices upwards and endanger government's affordable housing project.

In separate interviews, the Presidents of the Association of Ghana Industries Tony Oteng-Gyasi and the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association GREDA Dr. Alex Tweneboah called on the government to act quickly to salvage the housing industry from price hikes.

Dr Tweneboah is worried about consequences of the cement shortage which he said could lead to increased prices of houses.

Mr Oteng-Gyasi on the other hand said GHACEM situation only mirrored what industry was going through in the face of the load shedding exercise which begun last year.

Meanwhile in an interview with Peace FM on Wednesday, a Director of GHACEM, Dr George Dawson-Amoah, said the company had not in any way increased the prices of the product.

He said the factory price remained at less than 60,000 cedis and that production levels for days when the company had full compliment of electricity was quite appreciable.

Dr Dawson-Amoah said in some cases prices were reduced for certain projects such as the Ghana Affordable Housing project. Companies with value Added tax relief purchase orders also buy the cement at a reduced price.

Middlemen have been blamed for the price hikes.

He said GHACEM was faced with two different energy problems one being the normal load shedding exercise and another from the Tema main station which was currently undergoing a maintenance programme.