Govt assures of providing affordable housing for Ghanaians – Asenso-Boakye

The Ministry of Works and Housing under the auspices of the government has assured of providing financial assistance to Ghanaians by giving them the opportunity to afford decent accommodation.

Francis Asenso-Boakye, designated minister for the sector says the ministry has secured subventions with private estate developers to support individuals who are unable to afford their own homes.

The minister speaking at the commissioning of an ultra-modern 40-unit housing estate financed by the State Housing Company Limited (SHC) at Amrahia in Accra said the government had reviewed the housing programme to support low- and middle-income earners.

“This estate used to be an abandoned site. We reclaimed it some years ago and construction began about 18 to 24 months ago. It is made up of three- and four-bedroom townhomes and single-family homes. It has various levels of finishing. We also have a sports facility here that residents can use. The concept of this estate was to serve as a support system for our affordable housing project.”

“We built this to target middle-income earners, put a bit of a premium on the pricing so that the revenue we generate from this estate can be used to support our affordable housing initiative.”

The Managing Director of the SHC, Kwabena Ampofo Appiah, stated that the government was committed to supporting the private sector with subsidies to ensure that its goal of providing Ghanaians with affordable accommodation was achieved.

“The government’s interest is to offer support to the private sector so that the private sector can take the lead in housing construction. What the private sector lacks is the support from government, and that is what this government seeks to do by providing that support in the form of subsidies on incumbent land. But government is also leveraging on public lands to do that.”

“And one big important component of housing infrastructure is horizontal infrastructure, which is the roads, the drains, sewage, electricity, and water. Government is also leveraging on its traditional responsibility of infrastructural provision to make sure that the cost of pricing reduces”.