Vice-President Dr. Bawumia welcoming Grete Faremo, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director-UNOPS, at the launch
Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has cut sod for the construction of some 6,500 homes at Amasaman.
This project forms part of the United Nations Office of Project Services (UNOPS) and Sustainable Housing Solutions (SHS) 100,000 affordable housing scheme for Ghana.
According to Dr. Bawumia, the deficit in the housing sector was a headache for African governments hence the need to continuously push for affordable housing projects.
Being aware of the challenge, President Akufo-Addo has decided to partner UNOPS to bring some affordable housing projects to Ghana for the people, he said.
Expressing gratitude to UNOPS, the Vice-President said Ghana was one of two countries in Africa that made it through the vetting process.
He mentioned several challenges in Ghana’s housing sector that had led to disparity in home ownership.
“With the UNOPS programme coming on board to augment the projects currently being taken by the government, we are miles away to addressing the housing gap. The government is partnering UNOPS, SHS to deliver a sustainable and affordable housing scheme that will enable working Ghanaians purchase decent homes,” he stated.
Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, Barbara Ayisi Asher, said: “Having a home is a basic human right which allows us to live happy and fulfilling lives. Increasing population and urbanization had made access to decent housing accommodation a challenge in cities in Ghana.”
She noted that 60 per cent of Ghana’s urban population would need some form of government support to get housing and bridge the housing gap.
“An additional 35 per cent will not get housing even with government support; this calls for massive support,” she said.
The UNOPS/SHS, Government of Ghana partnership, would yield the needed results to provide decent accommodation for Ghanaians, she added.
Apart from giving people the chance to own affordable houses, the projects would create local jobs for thousands of people and boost the economy.
UNOPS is expected to build over 800,000 homes across Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. It is the largest affordable housing scheme the world has ever seen.
In Asia, India and Pakistan are the two beneficiaries, while Ghana and Kenya are beneficiaries in Africa.
Ghana, with an estimated housing deficit of over two million projected to increase to 2.2 million in a few years, will receive about $5.3 billion to construct the affordable houses across the country.
The new partnership will also explore new opportunities in the renewable market, with UNOPS expected to work with MYRA-SHS Energy, a subsidiary of SHS, which focuses on investments in renewable energy projects and associated infrastructure.
It is the latest step in the UNOPS Social Impact Investing Initiative (S3I), which aims to attract financing from the private sector to develop projects in emerging markets.
BY Melvin Tarlue