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The Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) has stated that the government is unable to deliver affordable housing, especially in the Fourth Republic, due to its active participation in the real estate sector.
It has consequently called on the government to perform a facilitation role in the delivery of affordable housing projects instead of competing with private sector players.
The Executive Secretary of GREDA, Samuel Amegayibor, who made the remarks at the launch of a new housing project by Lakeside Estate in Accra yesterday, said the government must understand that housing for the people could be done by only local developers.
The new housing project, Lakeside Hills, is a lifestyle community developed for comfortable living experience for families and individuals who wish to spend time in a confined community.
The project is made up of 5,000 homes comprising various clusters of estates.
The first phase covers 200 homes, specifically the four bedroom orca house which is near completion.
To be completed in the next five years, the project is a one-stop community that will harness social and community experience through shopping, playing, work and leisure.
Mr Amegayibor noted that Lakeside Estates had proven beyond doubt that the local industry had the capacity to deliver affordable properties for Ghanaians.
He said with support, the local industry was committed to increasing access to various affordable housing schemes to reduce the housing deficit in the country.
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Some buildings constructed by Lakeside Estate
“We can notice that all successive governments from the First Republic were able to deliver affordable houses.
When we entered the Fourth Republic apart from the early stages where Sakumono Estates and a few others were built, there was total confusion in the delivery of affordable housing.
“GREDA has over the years engaged the government on several occasions in an attempt to help address the housing challenges but our advice is never taken but rather the engagement of foreign partners to execute the task,” he added.
The Board Chairman of the Lakeside Estates, Salem Kalmoni, said the estate developer embarked on its journey with a humble beginning but it had since undergone remarkable transformation over the past two decades.
He said Lakeside Estates was among the pioneering real estate companies in the country, operating alongside other industry leaders.
“Today, we are heralding a new era with the Lakeside Estates brand offering the hills project, an exceptional lifestyle living experience for both the Ghanaian community and diaspora,” he said.
The Managing Director (MD) of Lakeside Estates, Dr Prince-Joseph Ayiku, said the hill project was an amazing development which had been strategically sited on the hilly side o Lakeside Estate in the heart of the Adentan Municipality to guarantee a unique view of the Aburi mountains.
He said the project boasts an ultra-modern sports facility designed with the health and fitness of clients in mind.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana (CIMG), Kwabena Agyekum, who was the special guest, stated that the housing industry had grown massively in recent times, and that Lakeside Estates over the last twenty years had contributed immensely to the housing sector.
“I must say that today, we have seen a significant and beautiful new lifestyle living experience designed by the development company, where you do not only think of residential housing but also businesses, leisure, sports and shopping,” he said.
He added that it took only the real estate companies in the country that thought of smart cities to build in such a manner, where mobility, convenience, technology, access to the Internet was an utmost priority in development.
