Barbara Aisha Ayisi
The Ministry of Works and Housing has
announced the possible establishment of a National Housing Fund to ensure
adequate financing for the countries affordable housing programme.
The Fund, according to the Deputy
Minister of Works and Housing, Barbara Aisha Ayisi, will provide a dedicated
source of financing and serve as a guarantee to leverage, and also off-take
private sector investment and construction of housing units that are affordable
to the ordinary Ghanaian.
“Successful cases in the delivery of mass
affordable housing programmes have been founded on the existence of a dedicated
housing financing arrangement and I believe this will be the key to unlocking
Ghana’s prospects for affordable housing provision,” she said.
Mrs. Ayisi was speaking at the
opening of the 127th Board Meeting and Retreat of the Shelter Afrique, a
pan-African finance institution that exclusively supports the development of
the housing and real estate sector in Africa.
The Deputy Minister explained that
plans are far advanced to sell the idea to Cabinet which she said is the key to
unlocking Ghana’s prospects for affordable housing.
Nghidinua Daniel, Chairperson of
the Shelter Afrique Board, speaking on the theme: ‘Implementation of
Institutional and Legal Frameworks: the Key to successful Affordable Housing
Programmes’ said the conference was to help the Board to “touch base” with key
stakeholders and partners, especially the government of Ghana, which is a
founding member of the Company.
He said the issue of affordable
housing was not “an issue only for the government” but for all other
stakeholders, and that was why Shelter Afrique, had decided to confer with key
stakeholders in housing, finance and development, including members of
academia, financial institutions as well as estate developers, who were already
in the housing business.
He said already, the Company had invested a total of 55.6 million dollars into the housing sector in Ghana, some in technical training, some as loans for local banks to invest in the sector and some through partnerships with government in its provision of housing units.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri
