The hike in cement prices in parts of the country and the cedi�s current turbulence is placing housing units way beyond the means of the ordinary Ghanaian, the Ghana Real Estate Development Association (GREDA), the umbrella association of real estate developers in Ghana, has stated.
In an interview granted The Finder on Monday, the President of the Association, Dr Alexander Tweneboa, said: �About 60 per cent of the materials that go into the production of cement are all imported.�
According to him, the cedi�s continuous decline is a major damper on investor appetite in the real estate sector and act as a disincentive to efforts by developers pursuing affordable housing projects for the low income bracket in Ghana.
�These are challenges impeding our efforts in the delivery of affordable housing to our people,� he explained.
He disclosed that the increased cost of production is causing many of the Association's members to lay off workers.
If measures are not taken, the much-intended affordable housing mantra would not see the light of day, he said.
Dr Tweneboa lamented that the situation did not augur well for the industry, adding that it was the hope of the association that production of cement would be restored speedily while the uncertainties in the exchange rate would be corrected.
It would be recalled that the Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, in a recent launch of the Meridian Gardens, a housing project, expressed government�s concern over the high cost of building materials, which he admitted had also increased the cost of building in the country.
The Minister had noted that government appreciated the numerous constraints faced by real estate developers in their bid to provide housing for the country.
�Real estate development is a capital intensive venture that requires careful planning and investment of huge resources to accomplish and we are aware of encumbrances such as access to land, access to construction finance and affordable mortgages, requisite support from the statutory planning and enforcement authorities and overreliance on imported building materials,� he had said.
According to the Minister, the proposed housing policy had an overall goal of providing adequate safe, decent and affordable housing that would be accessible and sustainable with infrastructural facilities using the private sector as the driving force and government as facilitator or partner.
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