President Akufo-Addo launches revised affordable housing scheme
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has launched a revised National Affordable Housing Programme to tackle the affordability gap and improve access to housing in the country.
Under the programme, dubbed “My Home My Peace,” government will subsidize housing units with lands and infrastructure to absorb a critical component of the construction cost while the private sector complements the effort by raising funds to build apartments on a cost-recovery basis.
Housing unit
As part of the project which was launched on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, the President also cut the sod for the commencement of the construction of a 8,000 units housing project at Pokuase in the Greater Accra Region.
The construction of the entire project will be in two phases; the first phase comprises 4,000 which will be completed within 18 months with the remaining 4,000 units to be completed in the second phase within the same timeframe.
Under the programme another 6,000 housing units at Dedesua in Ashanti Region, which is currently undergoing thorough feasibility studies, will be constructed.
President Akufo-Addo announced that the project is the first government housing project that has undergone meticulous feasibility study as a prerequisite for funding from the Ministry of Finance. “We have left no stone unturned in conducting detailed assessments including environmental impact and social impact, property impact, traffic impact assessment, housing stress analysis, and financial analysis,” he added.
High cost of materials
President Akufo-Addo indicated that due to recent times high cost of construction materials resulting from the effects of the emergence of COVID-19, which have been worsened and even further by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ghana cannot continue to rely on important building materials for housing and construction industry.
Therefore, under the revised national affording housing programme, developers are obliged to incorporate a significant proportion of domestically manufactured building materials such as burnt bricks which will be utilised at two different levels.
Through this project, President Akufo-Addo said the government was paving the way for sustained growth and development of the burnt brick industry and of the local building materials industry in general.
Demand side
President Akufo-Addo announced that the housing project also focuses on the demand side and market and in doing so government through the Ministry of Finance has developed a model based on the successful National House ownership fund which is providing instrumental in providing financial assistance to aspiring home owners.
