Poor maintenance culture cause of rapid infrastructure deterioration

Although sustainable housing policy thrives on a balanced focus on new housing production and effective maintenance strategies, the orientation of housing policies and programmes in Ghana manifest an unequal attention on the supply side of the housing equation.

The poor maintenance culture plaguing our housing system in Ghana can be likened to a water tank with a perforated base. Although water flows regularly into the tank, it never gets full because of the continuous outflow or discharge of water through the holes underneath.

This means that although efforts are being made over the years through public and private sector interventions to improve the housing situation in the country, these efforts are not yielding fruitful results because the housing stock continue to deplete or does not see much increase because little effort is made to keep them in good and livable conditions. It is said that housing and other landed properties in Ghana “take care of themselves”.

As a result of this chronic neglect of the maintenance component of the housing system, most public buildings and residential housing in the country are characterised by a disturbing state of disrepair and breakdown of ancillary services

Poor Maintenance Situation

A study conducted in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale by the author and Mr. E. Osei Tutu of the Building and Road Research Institute (BBRI) revealed that there is a real housing maintenance problem in the country.

The study revealed that 43 per cent of all roofs, 42 per cent of painting, 40 per cent of courtyard, 34 per cent of walls, 33 per cent of wooden members, 30 per cent of floor, 25 per cent of sub-structure had maintenance problems. The most widespread maintenance problems identified were faded painting, cracks in walls, leakage of roofs, rotten wooden members and dysfunctional housing facilities and infrastructure.

In fact, a considerable proportion of the housing in these cities, especially those in the low income housing neighbourhoods pose security challenges to the occupants. . It is therefore not surprising that from time to time, we hear of collapsing of walls and caving in of roofs resulting in all forms of human casualties.

Causal Factors

Generally, maintenance practices and level of consciousness is influenced by people’s level of education and type of occupation, presence of the landlord in the house, type of ownership and the number of persons in the house which invariably determines the pressure on facilities in the house.

The causal factors can be classified into two main groups, namely; physical and socio-economic factors. The physical causes include age of buildings, nature of terrain soil conditions, seismic movements, high temperature variations and other environmental conditions.

With respect to socio-economic causes, the main factor is lack of maintenance culture among house owners and tenants, lack of funds, uneconomic rents, high maintenance costs, lack of maintenance plans and budgets, family ownership resulting in neglect, absentee landlordism among others.

Policy Interventions

The poor housing maintenance problem in Ghana has severe consequences and requires serious attention and concerted efforts from all stakeholders at all levels. In order to address these problems, it is recommended that policies should be formulated to promote sustainable housing delivery system that gives a balanced focus to a vigorous housing production and maintenance programme in the country combining both public and private resources.

This broad policy framework comprises five-sets of policy-interventions, namely; preventive and cost reduction measures, attitudinal change mechanisms, maintenance compelling measures, maintenance regulatory framework and necessary incentives for the promotion of regular maintenance.

The preventive and cost reduction measures deal with the use of appropriate building materials, application of relevant technology, adoption of appropriate designs, proper location and quality control and the training and certification of artisans.

Policy recommendations under attitudinal change mechanisms should focus primarily on maintenance education and awareness creation aimed at addressing the root causes of the poor maintenance culture.

Maintenance compelling measures deal with the institution of appropriate legal requirements, standard maintenance agreements, specification of maintenance responsibilities of landlords and tenants and drawing of maintenance plans and budgets.

Policy issues under maintenance regulatory framework should define the role of the central and local governments, private and public instructions in maintenance activities. It is recommended that the Public Works Department should be transformed into a National Maintenance
Agency to provide public education and technical services to promote healthy maintenance behavior and attitudes in the country.

In addition, the Agency should train and assist house owners, estate developers and estate managers of private and public institutions to prepare regular maintenance plans for their buildings. These institutions should also be educated to allocate funds for building maintenance in their annual budgets to implement their maintenance plans.

The Building Inspectorate Division of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies should also be tasked to conduct regular monitoring and assessment of the state of maintenance of buildings in their areas of jurisdiction to enable authorities to enforce maintenance regulations.
Finally, there should be policy interventions to institute incentives and sanctions for the promotion of positive maintenance culture at all levels. This should include various methods of fund mobilization and the institution of various awards and sanctions to encourage maintenance activities among property owners.

Conclusion

Although the issues raised in this paper are by no means exhaustive, they provide answers to the fundamental questions underlying the maintenance problem in the country. In sum, effective maintenance policies and strategies as those proposed above must be integrated into a national housing policy framework. As a nation, we must achieve a sustainable balance between housing supply and maintenance equation.

Definitely, a healthy maintenance culture and practices developed in the housing sector will positively impact the maintenance attitudes in the other sectors of the economy such us roads, water, electricity and other public works.

With strong political will, effective public education and the provision of appropriate incentives and sanctions, and effective resourcing of the implementing institutions and agencies, the recommended policies and strategies will contribute in providing enduring solutions to the maintenance problems constraining housing supply in Ghana.

The writer is the President, Christian Service University College, Kumasi