No wonder we can’t house ourselves! - the real cost of ignoring Ghanaian building technologies
Today, 50 years down the line, when knowledge abounds and the know-how of our scientists has increased, Ghanaian engineers and building technologists are sidelined as Brazilians are building Kejetia and Central markets in Kumasi, and the Kwame Nkrumah Overpass in Accra.
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What happened? With advances in technological development, Ghanaian scientists and researchers are today 10 times more knowledgeable than their predecessors of the 1960s. Yet — and your guess is as good as mine — the only reason why the BRRI is not on the lips of every Ghanaian is that there is official lack of confidence in African solutions. This lack of confidence manifests in highly educated Ghanaians, business executives and public servants looking down on and actually rejecting local building technologies.
Did you know:
• that the city of Tema, the first deliberately planned enclave in West Africa, was designed and built by Ghanaian engineers and building technologists?
• that Asawase and Ahinsan estates in Kumasi were put up by Ghanaian engineers from the CSIR-Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI)?
• that the Achimota Overpass in Accra, constructed in the 1970s, was the work of Ghanaian engineers?
• that Ghanaian engineers were involved in the construction of the Buipe and Yapei bridges in the North in the 1960s ?
• that the by-passes at Nsawam, Nkawkaw and Kyebi were the result of road-use research by the CSIR-Building and Road Research Institute, in collaboration with the Ghana Highways Authority and National Road Safety Commission?
• that BRRI undertook the Construction supervision of 105 km asphaltic concrete pavement and 24 bridges under the Kumasi City Roads Rehabilitation Project in the 1980s?
Low-cost housing
Indeed, the story is told of an attempt by the Building and Road Research Institute to introduce low-cost housing using local materials — such as burnt bricks, clay roofing tiles, bamboo and compressed earth blocks — for workers in one of Ghana’s regional capitals. The story is that a top government official openly campaigned against the project, describing the houses as “Atakpami houses”, not worthy to be occupied by city dwellers.
He moved heaven and earth to have the project stopped. No amount of conscientisation could bring this official to understand that the decades-old halls of residence of the University of Ghana, the ancient cathedrals of Europe, especially the UK, were all built of burnt bricks!
Truth is that burnt bricks are far superior to sandcrete blocks in terms of strength (more than five times), durability, beauty and aesthetics. Burnt bricks are fire-resistant (it can withstand up to 1400 °C), provides better indoor condition, sound insulator and wear resistant. Brick houses require no external plastering, periodic painting, repair and maintenance.
As a pure Arts person who once poured scorn on efforts of African scientists and blamed them for doing very little, I confess that I am “born again” after tasting the CSIR. I have gone through technologies developed out of scientific research by the various institutes, and I can say that if Ghana perishes tomorrow, it will not be because someone, or a group of concerned Ghanaians, trained in the sciences with the taxpayer’s money failed to place their knowledge at the service of the nation.
Building and Road Research Institute and pozzolana
Take the Building and Road Research Institute as an example. With a highly qualified workforce that includes foundation, civil, structural, geotechnical, geomatic, ceramic, chemical, transportation and highway engineers, as well as chemists, planners, architects, surveyors and information technologists, the BRRI is an institute on a mission.
This mission — to develop innovative designs to ensure cost-effectiveness in shelter construction, evaluation of local clay deposits for possible use in construction, conduct studies on termite and fungal attack on timber structures and other building materials. This mission is worth pursuing with a zeal equalled only by that of religious zealots.
Ever heard of Pozzolana Cement? It is a wholly Ghanaian product invented by the BRRI. The “Clay Pozzolana” replaces up to 40 per cent of imported ordinary Portland Cement to produce pozzolana cement for both concrete and general cement works. The cost of pozzolana cement per 50-kilogramme bag is about 20 per cent cheaper than a bag of Portland Cement; Pozzolona cement reduces cracking (indeed, No cracks) and is more resistant to rain penetration; with Pozzolana, there is an increased resistance against chemical attacks, notably sulphates and chlorides.
Concrete works, cement blocks, mortar for blockwork, culverts, drains and pavement blocks made from Pozzolana cement have been scientifically proven (QED) to be superior in all ways to all of the above produced with Portland cement. The cost saving of BRRI projects was demonstrated when it undertook the construction of 650 units of houses at Ashongman, Accra. By the time it handed over the houses, there had been a saving of 30 per cent.
Yet, how many Ghanaian real estate developers and government institutions – who know about the product – will opt for it, and how many ordinary Ghanaians who want to build their mansions or pension houses ever think of Pozzolana?
Slums and squatter communities
As I write, there is a government policy that states that by close of 2015, 60 per cent of all public buildings should be put up with local material, made-in-Ghana building products. This law is more honoured in the breach than in the observance. Why? Because the very government official who has to promote it or ensure compliance with the law will himself or herself prefer imported materials!
Ghana consumed about 5.5 million tonnes of cement in 2014 and its utilisation increases by at least five per cent annually. Clinker and cement imports cost the nation more than $300 million annually. The high price of cement, about ₵32.00 ($8.00) per bag, contributes to the high cost of housing delivery. No wonder, the housing deficit in Ghana as of 2015 was a whopping 1.7 million. This has resulted in more than 30 squatter communities and slums in Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi with the attendant consequences.
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The use of pozzolana cement and burnt bricks will save the nation not less than $80 million per annum and provide needed employment to the youth. In addition, these local materials perform far better in the coastal areas and degraded soil environment.
Ghanaian scientists do not blow their horn, but it is a fact that when the fence walls of the Aboadze Thermal Plant in the Western Region were collapsing as a result of acids and salts eating away the sandcrete block wall and metal fence, it was BRRI that went to the rescue, using salt-resistant burnt bricks and Pozzolana lime paste.
House owners will do anything to get rid of termites. If you did not know before, I can assure you that you have no problem after reading this article. Just call the BRRI. The institute has developed chemicals from local plants that treat termite infestation. Beneficiary projects include all the GETFund hostels at University of Development Studies in Tamale, Kumasi, Sunyani and Tamale; SSNIT hostels at Legon, KNUST and UEW and government residential property at Roman Ridge.
Dr Eugene Atiemo, Director of the Institute, believes that his Institute enjoys a world-class reputation for research that makes it easily the consultant of choice in the built environment and road safety sector.
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The institute has been undertaking vital services on national road safety annually since 1987. It is the Repository of National Accident Data.