National Housing Policy is crucial-GREDA

Accra , Mar 27, GNA - The Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) has expressed satisfaction with the development of the New National Housing Policy, saying it would go a long way to bring some sanity into the housing industry.

Mr Kwakye Dopoah Dei, President of Ghana Real Estate Developers Association, at the launch of the New National Housing Policy on Friday, said the document would serve as a guiding foot on which industry players could stand, to take the next step to flourish the housing industry.  

GREDA is calling on government to initiate the establishment of a Housing Authority, which would oversee to the implementation of the Housing Policy.

It has become evident that the growing urgency to provide more homes to millions of households in Ghana has led to the remarkable rate of illegal construction and substandard housing production process.

Mr Dopoah said the new policy with objectives including the promotion of greater private sector participation in housing delivery, creation of an environment conducive to investment in housing for rental purposes and promotes housing schemes that maximizes land utilization, would increase private sector investment.

The Policy would also accelerate home improvement, make housing programmes more accessible to the poor and upgrade existing slums and prevent the occurrence of new ones which would accelerate national development.

He thanked all stakeholders for their contributions and inputs and asked for their continuous support towards the development of a strategy for implementation of the policy and also for the establishment of the National Housing Authority.

The development of the 39-paged National Housing Policy, which replaces existing fragmented policies and legislation on housing in Ghana, was spearheaded by the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing and financed by stakeholders including the UN-Habitat.

GNA