A $5-BILLION housing project expected to provide 100,000 housing units across the country has been inaugurated at Afuaman in the Ga West Municipality in the Greater Accra Region.
The project, which is being facilitated by the Ministry of Works and Housing, is to be undertaken by the United Nations Office of Project Services (UNOPS) and Sustainable Housing Solutions (SHS) Limited, a social housing development company.
It is to be completed within eight years to bridge the country’s housing deficit.
The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who inaugurated the project at Afuaman yesterday, noted that aside from food and clothing, a shelter was the next important need of man.
As part of the project, he said, factories would be constructed in the country for the production of building panels, saying: “I have been informed that the first factory is to be established in Tema.”
According to him, the objective for the project was in consonance with the government’s policy of providing adequate, decent and affordable housing for Ghanaians.
In line with that, he said, it was collaborating with the UNOPS and the SHS to deliver an affordable housing model which would include not only homes but also a mortgage system to enable Ghanaian workers to purchase homes that came with the necessary amenities.
The UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UNOPS, Ms Grete Faremo, said 6,500 of the houses would be cited at Afuaman.
She said the project would be a game-changer which, apart from providing affordable homes, would also provide jobs for the people.
The UN General Assembly has mandated its project services department (UNOPS) to identify and expand its capacity worldwide to cover peace, security and humanitarian services for beneficiary countries.
Following stakeholder discussions, the government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the UNOPS which spelt out their commitments and desired outcomes of a social housing model during the UN General Assembly in New York in September last year.
Source: Graphic
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