Government releases GH¢10m for workers housing

16-10-08
Page 49

THE government has released GH¢10 million to HFC Bank Limited as a revolving fund for public sector employees’ housing scheme.
Under the scheme, public sector workers will be able to access up to GH¢25,000 to complete or purchase their own houses.
The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, who announced this at a press conference on the government’s affordable housing programme in Accra, said the interest rate was 10 per cent.
He said several investors had shown interest in the delivery of houses for Ghanaians and that the ministry had signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) with prospective investors in that regard.
“Some of the proposals are quite advanced. Among them are Renaissance Management Group of the USA — $250 million — and Sithru Malaysia — $120 million. The process seems a bit slow because of the due diligence that has to be done on these proposed investments,” he explained.
Alhaji Boniface said the government’s role as the facilitator of the private sector notwithstanding, it had realised that it had a social commitment to ensure that lower income workers were housed, adding that it was in trying to address the problem and the growing housing deficit that President Kufuor initiated the Affordable Housing Programme.
That, he said, was to provide houses for low to middle-income workers of the country who were facing acute accommodation problems and who most often retired without accommodation.
He said the target was to provide 100,000 housing units over a 10-year period through direct government intervention and in partnership with the private sector, adding that “the programme commenced with the Borteyman-Nungua project in February 2006 and was extended in May 2006 to Kpone, near Tema, and Asokore-Mampong in Kumasi. The Koforidua project was launched in July 2007 and that of Tamale and Wa in September 2007”.
Alhaji Boniface said the proposals were essentially for one, two and three-bedroom house types and flats and that what was under construction in all the sites under the first phase were one and two-bedroom apartments in four-storey blocks of flats with minimum specification and the necessary infrastructure such as roads, drainage, a central sewage system, shopping centres, clinics and schools.
To date, he said, a total of 325 local contractors and 60,000 local workers were engaged on the projects in all the six sites and a total amount of GH¢52.67 million had been spent on the projects, adding that 5,162 units were under construction in all existing sites and that they were at various stages of completion.
He expressed the hope of completing some of the housing units by the end of the year.
He said it was intended to build 600 housing units under the first phase in the remaining regional capitals of Sunyani, Sekondi/Takoradi, Ho, Bolgatanga and Cape Coast.
Alhaji Boniface said with regard to land, the ministry had sourced 50,000 acres in Greater Accra and other regional and district capitals purposely for the government’s housing programme and associated infrastructural development.
“The main objective is to establish land bank systems to facilitate access to land by developers,” he said, and commended the chiefs and landowners who had voluntarily offered their land.
He said the ministry and the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines and other agencies were implementing the Accra Government Residential Areas Redevelopment Project as part of the urban renewal strategy and that the objective was to maximise the use of existing prime lands and increase housing densities.
Alhaji Boniface explained that the housing deficit was estimated to be in excess of 500,000 units, while supply was about 45,000 units per annum, against an annual requirement of 100,000.