Francis Asenso-Boakye
MINISTER OF Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye, has assured the private sector of the government’s commitment to creating an enabling environment for the construction of mass housing in the country over the next four years.
“The vision of government for the housing sector is to use an appropriate mix of public and private sector investments to deliver quality, safe, affordable housing solutions that meet the needs and financial capacity of the ordinary Ghanaian,” he said.
The minister, who was speaking at a breakfast meeting on the real estate sector recently in Accra, said government recognised the role of the private sector and that, he would lead the process to engage key stakeholders within the housing sector to find ingenious ways of creating the enabling environment, especially for the private sector.
According to the minister, affordable housing had always been on the agenda of the ministry, and considering the growing housing deficit, there was the need for a concerted government policy direction to tackle the current institutional gap that was required to provide mass affordable housing for Ghanaians.
Mr. Asenso-Boakye stated that over the years, there had not been a clearly defined institutional framework that was responsible for the planning, developing and managing housing in Ghana.
It is for this reason that he said government was bent on setting up a National Housing Authority to lead the supply side of the housing market with a mandate to plan, develop and manage housing development in Ghana.
He added that the government also intended to leverage on the pension funds to finance housing delivery in Ghana, which he said was one of the surest ways to secure long term and sustainable financing for the housing sector.
He explained that the intention was to review the Pension Act to increase its portfolio for financing housing from the current five per cent.
Touching on regulation of the housing industry, the minister disclosed that Parliament had passed the Real Estate Agency Act, 2020 (Act 1047) to regulate the practice of real estate agency, the conduct of real estate practitioners, commercial transactions including the sale, purchase, rental, and leasing of properties.
He noted that the practice of real estate had grown considerably as the property market had become more active with buying, selling, and leasing of property for investment, even though in recent times the institutional and regulatory framework for the real estate sub-sector remained fragmented, making real estate practice in Ghana not adequately regulated.
He was of the view that the expectation of the implementation of the provisions of the Act would go a long way to clear avenues which fostered money laundering in real estate transactions, including the prohibition of the use of cash for real estate transactions which in turn will generate more revenue for government.