170,000 Housing units needed annually to solve deficit in 10 years
Ghana continues to face serious problems in the housing sector due to frequent urbanisation and population growth, the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Dr Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah, has stated.
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He said with the current housing deficit of more than 1.7 million units, the interventions the government had put in place could not make any impact in the short term.
Dr Agyeman- Mensah was speaking when a 16-member delegation from Finland called on him at his office in Accra last Monday.
Housing deficit
He said it would require the construction of a minimum of 170,000 housing units annually to solve the housing deficit over the next 10 years and underscored the need to involve other stakeholders, such as the private sector to achieve that objective.
However, Dr Agyeman-Mensah added that considering the fact that housing was a basic human right, the government was committed to putting in place some short-term pragmatic measures, including public-private partnership, to address the problem.
He indicated that it was for this reason that the government was creating an enabling environment for the private sector to continue to play an active role in housing delivery.
He added that the government had also initiated a number of long-term measures, including the institution of a housing authority and a housing fund, as required by the recently adopted National Housing Policy and the various affordable housing projects nationwide, to address the country’s housing problem.
Water sector
Touching on water delivery, Mr Agyeman-Mensah said the government had a vision to ensure that every household had access to potable water by 2025, regardless of their geographical location.
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The current national supply coverage stands at 87 per cent, which means 87 people out of 100 had access to potable water.
The minister also said “the government had initiated a number of projects nationwide to increase water production and supply.
Finland to partner government
The Finnish delegation, led by the Deputy Minister for External Affairs and Economic Relations, Mr Mattin Anttonen, expressed the interest of the government of Finland in partnering the Ghana Government to address the social housing deficit and attain the 2025 potable water for all vision.
Relishing the friendly ties between the two countries in the past 50 years, Mr Anttonen said the delegation was in the country to explore the potential, based on which the two nations could collaborate to further deepen their relationship.