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President John Dramani Mahama has challenged players in the real estate industry to explore the use of local materials in construction as a way of cutting down cost. He expressed concern over the rising cost of houses, which is way beyond the reach of many people, especially the working class, and said there must surely be a way out, such as " using local content". President Mahama was speaking at a meeting with some players in the mortgage industry at the Flagstaff House yesterday. The discussions centred on how to address bottlenecks in the industry to ensure that many Ghanaians had access to housing. The meeting was in fulfilment of a promise the President made in his State of the Nation Address to call a meeting of stakeholders in the industry to see how the government could help create a deeper mortgage market to enable more people to own homes. Tamale initiative President Mahama mentioned a housing initiative being implemented by the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly in which local materials were being used to construct one and two-bedroom houses, some of which cost GH�20,000. He said he had tasked the ministries of Local Government and Rural Development and Water Resources, Works and Housing to study the Tamale initiative to find out the possibility of scaling it up across the country, with the involvement of the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI). The President also expressed concern over the concentration of real estate development in the cities and urged that estate developers should consider those who lived outside the urban centres. Land Land, he admitted, was one of the most serious obstacles to housing, especially within the legal framework where land cases could last 10 years in court. He said he had raised the issue with the Chief Justice and she had promised to create a more fast-track system on land cases. Discussions Contributors at the meeting mentioned the rising cost of doing business in the mortgage industry and called for the government�s intervention to save the situation. They mentioned the 17.5 per cent tax on real estate and rising interest rates as some of the difficulties in the business. The President of the Ghana Association of Bankers, Mr Simon Dornoo, who set the stage for the discussions, said the banks had challenges with long-term financing because a typical mortgage would require about 15-20 years� funding. "Now if you look at the funding market in Ghana, it is very limited or short-term monies which have a maximum of 90 days� funding and which basically go to support the bread and butter business," he said.