Government To Build More Housing Units

The government will construct 100,000 housing units over the next eight years through public-private partnerships as part of its efforts to meet rising housing demand in the country.

Additionally, the government has expressed its determination to continue with the affordable housing programme that was started in 2006 to make housing accessible to the low and middle-income groups in the country.

Taking his turn at the Meet-the-Press series in Accra yesterday, the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Albert Abongo, said the government was committed to increasing workers’ output, enhancing their sense of security, creating jobs, improving incomes and reducing poverty.

Currently, Ghana’s housing deficit is hitting the million mark and the annual housing requirement is about 140,000 units, while supply figures are at about 45,000 units per annum.

Mr Abongo announced that a supplier’s credit facility between the government of Ghana and the Renaissance Management Group Incorporated of the USA for an amount of $250 million for the construction of affordable housing was currently before Parliament for consideration.

He said the government was entering into a public-private partnership arrangement with STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited (a Ghana-Korea joint venture development company) and HFC Bank Limited to construct 200,000 low-income housing units nation-wide over the next five years.

He said the government would sign an off-taker agreement with the project company to acquire 45 per cent of the low-income units to meet some of the accommodation needs of the security agencies.

The housing project would also include the construction of 300 housing units for Members of Parliament (MPs), Ministers of State and the State Protocol for the housing of visiting VVIPs under a build, lease and operate (BOT) basis, starting 2012.

Mr Abongo said over the years, demand for parking for visitors and office staff alike had far outweighed the parking space at the Ministries in Accra and there was, therefore, the need for commercial facilities like banks, restaurants, food courts, among others, at the area.

In response to those challenges, he said, the government had decided to initiate the development of a multi-storey car park with complementary prime commercial facilities within the Ministries area, using private sector funding.

On water, the minister said the average daily production of potable water in urban areas was 646,494 m3, while the demand was about 1,101,032 m3, with the effective water supply coverage currently being 59 per cent.

Water supply coverage was expected to hit 75 per cent by 2013 as a result of various water projects all over the country, he added.

Mr Abongo said the Kpong Water supply expansion project, estimated to cost about $273 million, was one of the major initiatives being undertaken to improve on water supply.

The project involved the construction of a new 190,000m3/day intake, a water treatment plant with new transmission lines through Dodowa to a new reservoir to be constructed at Oyibi, he said.

“The water is expected to be further transmitted from Oyibi to the Accra Booster Station for supply to areas like Adenta, Madina, East Legon, among others residential areas,” he noted.

The minister said the Water Resources Commission had, over the period, licensed and issued permits to 154 major water users in the areas of domestic, mining, aqua culture, power generation and recreation.

He said for effective management of the various rivers in the country, the commission had so far set up decentralised offices for the Densu, White Volta and Ankobra rivers and was currently in the process of setting up a fourth basin office for the Offin in Kumasi as part of the Pra Basin.

Mr Abongo said the government had secured a loan facility of about 68 million euros to support the execution of the Ada coastal protection project and work was expected to start as soon as the contractor was mobilised.