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President Akufo-Addo has charged members of the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry (GhCCI), to find innovative ways through which the country can build cheap houses for the citizenry, noting that housing in Ghana is largely a “monopoly of the rich”.
Lamenting the expensive state of housing in Ghana, the President indicated “we are here in Ghana and some small three-bedroom house in East Legon will cost you 350,000, 400,000 to 500,000 dollars”.
He added that with the same amount of money one can get mansions in many parts of America for 100,000, 200,000 dollars maximum.
While attributing the low cost of accommodation to the use of local, indigenous materials, he said that “we need to find a solution to how we can build strong houses here but cheaply.”
According to him, the country’s current housing deficit of 1.8 million housing units, is largely due to the fact that it is expensive to build in Ghana compared to other countries, particularly, America.
Addressing a delegation of the GhCCI when they paid a courtesy call on him at the Jubilee House on Wednesday, (2 March 2022), President Akufo-Addo, said policy makers in the building environment must seek better ways of building strong and cheaper houses.
“If we are going to be able to deal with the infrastructure deficit in our country, apart from roads, we have a deficit in our housing, 1.8 million units of housing that we need, a critical aspect of it is our ability to build houses cheaply”.
“We cannot continue to ignore the expensive methods of construction that has made housing here virtually a monopoly of the rich, it shouldn’t be the case” President Akufo-Addo said.
According to the President, “the richest country in the world (America,) has some of the cheapest housing that you can come across anywhere in the world”.
