Ashaiman, Oct. 26, GNA – President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has commissioned the National Housing Mortgage Fund (NHMF) gated estate at Tema Community 22 with the aim of bridging the country’s two million housing deficit.
The 204 houses estate located in the Ashaiman Municipality, constructed in nine months by the Tema Development Company (TDC) in partnership with the GCB Bank, Stanbic, and Republic Banks, was an initiative of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, and Ministry of Works and Housing.
The NHMF has two components, the National Mortgage Scheme (NMS), and the Affordable Housing Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), which is a rent-to-own scheme that would enable individuals, especially public sector workers to own an affordable house at a mortgage that must not exceed 12 per cent.
The 204 completed houses which construction started in February 2020 covers 20.80 acres of the total 37.54 acres land size for the enclave, and has 2.8 km of roads, 4.8 km of drains, 510m of precast concrete storm drain, and a total of 1.9km fence wall, as well as the provision of water and electricity.
The pilot housing project comprises of 50 units of two-bedroom detached houses, 118 units two bedroom semi-detached and 36 number of one-bedroom semi-detached.
President Akufo-Addo said government was committed to solving the huge housing deficit, indicating that the supply of about 40,000 housing units by the housing industry annually was inadequate to meet the about 70,000 annual housing needs of Ghanaians which he said had led to the deficit.
He said it was to address such issue that his government brought the initiative, adding that with the success of the Community 22 pilot; they hope to expand it to other parts of the country when his government received the nod for a second term.
Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, noted that for Ghana to successfully bridge the two million housing deficit, 200,000 units of houses were needed to be provided annually.
Mr Ofori-Atta indicated that GH¢45 million had been put into the NHMF for the financing of such affordable housing and assured that government was working assiduously to increase the fund to about one billion Ghana cedis for the project to be replicated across the country.
He said, six contractors made up of five Ghanaian, and one foreign companies worked on the project and announced that public sector workers and those earning stable income could apply for the houses through the partnering bank at a cost range of GH¢ 170,000 to 210,000.
Mr Samuel Atta Akyea, Minister of Works and Housing, recounted some of the projects the government had embarked on saying, “year 2021-2025 will be the President’s legacy years”
Madam Valerie Ashitey, a board member of the TDC, giving the address of welcome, said the institution which was converted into a limited liability company in 2017, was poised to partner government to provide the needed affordable housing to Ghanaians, stating that it would soon complete all the hitherto abandoned blocks of the Kpone affordable housing project.
Madam Ashitey noted that the provision of affordable housing could be achieved by government intervention and assistance in infrastructure construction mainly in the areas of roads, drains, electricity, water, and sewage, adding that “clearly, without Government intervention in the construction of infrastructure, this may not be an appealing venture for commercial oriented entities”.
GNA