‘Empower local private sector to provide affordable housing’

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Koans Estate, Mr Kofi Anokye, has urged government to channel more efforts into promoting local private sector investment in the real estate industry to meet the housing deficit challenge.

He said although government had been trying to provide affordable housing for the citizenry over the years, it had been observed that it was unable to do so as it did not have enough resources to fund such projects.

“The private sector can do it,” Mr Anokye stressed and urged the government to rather empower the local private sector and support it to provide affordable housing.

Mr Anokye said this when he spoke to journalists yesterday after members of the Ghana Revenue Authority Co-operative Credit Union (GRACCU) inspected 40 two-bedroom houses out of 140 houses being built by Koans Estate for the staff of the authority at Pampaso, near Suhum, in the Eastern Region.

The project is under the GRACCU affordable housing project, which is aimed at ensuring that more than 800 members of staff of the GRA had their own houses before they retired.
About 60 GRACCU members visited the building site to inspect the project and for the second phase of work to be commissioned.

Capital retention

Mr Anokye said engaging indigenous private companies in the real estate industry instead of foreign companies would help in the retention of capital in the economy as the foreign operators usually engaged in capital flight.

“We are on the ground and we understand the terrain. We can provide houses at a cost as low as GH¢20,000. The government must have confidence in local businesses and help us to grow and contribute to the growth of the economy,” he urged.

Housing scheme

Speaking to journalists after inspecting the houses, the Chairman of GRACCU, Mr Gordon Aaron Monyo, said the project was being sponsored with loans advanced to members from their savings.

“Out of the savings of members we give them loans for houses, vehicles or to enable them to further their studies,” he explained.

He said the second phase of the housing project being undertaken by Koans Estate at its Eastern Hill Estate at Pampaso would comprise 60 more houses.

The two-bedroom house on a 100 by 70 plot of land has facilities such as a kitchen, bathroom and a porch and would be handed over to GRACCU after a down payment of between GH¢65,000 and GH¢70,000 for each house.

A Board Secretary of GRACCU, Mr Eric Boateng, said members made an initial payment of GH¢5,000 each, while the rest of the cost was spread over monthly instalments for a three-year period.

He said the staff members were impressed with the progress of work and expressed the hope that the work would be completed on schedule.