Accra, Sept.18 ,- Mr Samuel Atta
Akyea, the Minister of Works and Housing, has said the Government is pursuing a
legislation to leverage 30 per cent of the pension funds for mortgage regime
that would enable contributors to the
Social Security and National Insurance Trust to secure affordable housing.
The Minister explained that using
the Pension Fund for mortgage financing would reduce the interest rate on the
houses to about nine per cent, which would be far better than the current
commercial rate of about 30 percent.
It would also help reduce the
current housing deficit of over 1.7 million and provide decent accommodation
for the citizenry.
Mr Atta Akyea gave the assurance
at the maiden Construction Industry Lecture, organised by the Ghana Institution
of Surveyors, with some partners, in Accra, on Monday.
It was held on theme:
"Ghana's Construction Industry; Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: Towards
Greater Professionalism".
The Minister explained that the
high cost involved in funding one’s accommodation, he explained, called for
pragmatic measures to provide affordable housing to assuage the suffering of
the ordinary Ghanaian.
Professor George Ofori, a
professor of Project Management at the London South Bank University, who was
the main speaker, called for a strong legal regime to regulate the construction
industry to ensure the regular maintenance of infrastructure and standardisation
of equipment used in the industry.
He said a properly regulated
construction industry would create jobs, ensure productivity, enhance
technology and improve economic growth.
It is estimated that the
construction industry employs about 600,000 people, representing about seven
per cent of the population and contributed eight percent to the National Gross
Domestic Product (GDP).
The Lecture was organised in
partnership with the Ghana Institute of Architect, Ghana Institute of Planners,
Built Environment Professionals, Ministries, Department and Agencies.
It is an intervention by the GhIS
and the other stakeholders in the Industry to bring the fertile but troubled
Industry under the spotlight of policy makers, practitioners, suppliers,
leaders and captains of related industries, students and pupils to think of the
industry.
“Ghana must at this stage of our
development, and after sixty years of independence, pay attention to this
strategic Industry, which could easily employ over one million workers; engage
over 100,000 business concerns, but, currently, however, locked up in
inefficiencies throughout the value chain,” the GhIS had said in an earlier
statement..
“There is a nation to build and
the industry must be ready for the bold and initiatives the Government of Ghana
is undertaking”.
GNA
No comments:
Post a Comment