Accra, Sept. 12, GNA-The Minister of Works and Housing, Kenneth Gilbert Adjei, has called on the Minerals Commission and the Lands Commission to work hand in hand with the Ministry to map out, zone, and safeguard crucial quarries and extraction areas.
Also, the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) must exercise vigilance at the local level, ensuring strict adherence to zoning regulations and preventing further encroachment.
He said the move was necessary to stem incessant encroachment on quarry and sand winning sites across the country, which is pushing up construction costs and worsening Ghana’s housing affordability crisis.
The encroachment had led to a sharp rise in the cost of transporting aggregates, with prices increasing by as much as 23 percent, as contractors are forced to haul materials from sources located more than 40 kilometers away from project sites.
“The sprawl onto prime quarry and sand-winning areas is not just an inconvenience, it is a crisis with far-reaching consequences,” the Minister said.
He said the encroachment was disrupting project schedules, inflating budgets, increasing contractor risks, and ultimately placing additional strain on public finances.
“The consequences are stalled housing projects, weakened partnerships, and declining investor confidence in our sector,” adding that the government would not allow the situation to persist as it strives to bridge Ghana’s housing deficit and deliver resilient infrastructure.
Mr Adjei called for strong monitoring and enforcement mechanisms to prevent illegal encroachment.
There is also the need to promote innovation in sustainable alternatives to reduce over-reliance on the limited natural resources and to encourage
private sector collaboration, whose creativity and investment are indispensable in building a resilient industry.
“The task ahead demands boldness, unity, and urgency. It is only through strong partnerships between Government, regulators, local authorities, industry players, and communities that we can protect our resources, reduce cost pressures, and restore efficiency to our project delivery systems,” the Minister added.
The Executive Chairman of the Commercial Quarry Operators Association, Dr. Ebenezer Mireku, said all the quarries in the southern area up to Kumasi, Volta Region, Eastern Region, Greater Accra, Western Region, Central, up to Ashanti had all practically being encroached.
He said the nearer communities were springing up around quarries, the bigger the danger to human lives.
“It is because our operations encapsulate hazard, that is why the lawmaker has made it that within 500 meters buffer, there shouldn’t be anybody,” he said, adding that this was not the case anymore.
“So, the nearer you come, the more dangerous it becomes for safety reasons. Now, apart from that, if they encroach the quarry, the end result will be that I have to close,” he added.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry, GHCCI, Emmanuel Cherry, who convened the forum, stressed that encroachment had become a major disincentive to the construction sector and called for swift action to address the menace.
He said the cost of housing and construction might rise due to the numerous challenges industry players are facing.
The cross-sectoral forum on encroachment challenges in quarry and sand-winning zones brought together stakeholders from across the industry, including the Ministry of Works and Housing, the Lands Commission, the Electricity Company of Ghana, the Minerals Commission, NADMO, as well as quarry and sand-winning companies.
Industry players called for collaboration among ministries and agencies to protect Ghana’s construction sector from a looming cost crisis.
GNA
Christian Akorlie