Ghana Secures $5 Billion To Fund 100,000 Houses

Government of Ghana has secured an amount of $5 billion from United Nations Office for Projects Services (UNOPS) for the construction of 100,000 affordable houses in the country.

The UNOPS is fully funding the $5 billion project with the government of Ghana only providing the land. Madam Freda Prempeh, the Deputy Minister for Works and Housing in an interview with Class FM earlier today described the agreement as a dream come true.

According to her, one of the main mandates of the Works and Housing Ministry is to provide affordable houses for Ghanaians. Therefore the agreement is going to go a long way provide houses for a lot of Ghanaians.

“This housing deal is a dream come true, I’ve been following up with their local partners in the United Nations office for a long time. One of our mandates is to ensure that we provide affordable houses for the good people of Ghana”, she said.

She reiterated that “The UNOPS are going to sink a whopping sum of $5 billion into this housing project. Government is not going to pay a dime on it, they are going to pre-finance the project. Our part of the deal is only to provide land and land acquisition in Ghana is quite a challenge, and as a ministry, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to acquire land so that our investors would not find any difficulties securing lands for this project”.

She further shared that the project is going to create a lot of jobs both directly and indirectly to the citizens of this country. She added that there is also going to be a transfer of Technology as the UNOPS is looking at setting up their machinery in Ghana. They are looking to move the country away from the brick and tile age and incorporate some new technologies into the housing industry.

Executive Director and UN Under-Secretary-General, Grete Feremo who played a major role in the agreement said the reason UNOPS chose Ghana was that the country has become a shining star in Africa and also showing strong signs of economic growth and prosperity.

He said Ghana has enjoyed political stability in the sub-region, hence has made the country an attractive investment destination and for that reason UNOPS wants to invest in the real estate sector in the country.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who witnessed the signing of the agreement, thanked the UN team for the initiative and stated that the huge housing deficit in Ghana was of great concern to him.

His Exellency Nana Addo emphasized a country like Ghana with a housing deficit of over one million, was unacceptable, hence any initiative that will seek to reduce the deficit was welcome.