The Ministry of Works and Housing is to establish a National Housing and Mortgage Fund for the housing industry in Ghana.
The Fund will be sourced from pension funds, housing bonds, grants, insurance companies, the primary reserve of the central bank, treasury, single account and tax incentives.
It will be a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that will leverage private capital investment in the housing and infrastructure industry and also aid the Ministry of Works and Housing to channel long term appropriate priced financing towards the housing sector.
Announcing this at the Meet-the-Press series in Accra on Tuesday, the Minister for Works and Housing, Samuel Atta Akyea said that this would be the first time a credible fund is created for financial mortgage regime in Ghana and this would enable majority of the citizenry, especially workers to have their own homes when they are no longer in active service.
He added that the government was embarking on a housing programme aimed at constructing 250,000 housing units annually for the next eight years, through Public Private Partnership (PPP).
In order to address the housing needs of the security services, Mr. Atta Akyea said the government had made a provision for the construction of 40,000 housing units with Messrs Sinohydro for the security services throughout the country.
He announced that the Works and Housing Ministry was collaborating with the Ministries of Lands and Natural Resources, Inner City and Zongo Development to upgrade slum arrears such us Nima and Maamobi to world-class residential areas.
“The growing incidence of slum development in Ghana has been the result of rural-urban migration, limited supply of land, and regulatory frameworks that are, at best, indifferent and hostile to the needs of the poor. Even though Nima and Maamobi routinely suffer from inadequate provisions of basic facilities such as housing, water, electricity and drainage systems, the communities continue to grow,” he said.
“The transformation of approximately 1,039 acres of prime land, which Nima and Maamobi occupy, will give meaning and beauty to the President’s vision of Inner City and Zongo Development. To this end, we are collaborating with the Ministries of Lands and Natural Resources and Inner City and Zongo Development, to make the aforesaid area a world-class residential enclave close to Jubilee House, the seat of Government without dislodging our good people who currently dwell in Nima and Maamobi,” he added.
