Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Wednesday called on all stakeholders to help formulate a more sustainable urban and housing policy that stresses the provision of decent and affordable housing for the citizens.
He said such a nationwide workable housing policy should consider the rules of engagement as they pertain to reasonable land use, building code and planning ordinances at the local level and, in particular, environmental regulations at the national level.
In an address read on his behalf by the Minister of Water Resources Works and Housing, Mr Albert Abongo, at the opening of a two-day housing conference in Accra, Vice President Mahama said the absence of such rules had led to indiscriminate destruction of vegetation cover, thereby diminishing potential carbon sinks that could assist with efforts at mitigating the effects of climate change.
The conference under the theme: "Planning our Urban Future", is being organized by the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing in collaboration with the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA).
Vice President Mahama said Ghana was still grappling with the major issue of access to decent housing at affordable cost, coupled with insufficient housing stock to meet the ever increasing demand for housing in the urban centres, hence the need for such a conference to explore ways at addressing the issue holistically.
Available statistics indicate that there is an acute shortage of over 400,000 units of houses nationwide while the supply capacity nationally is estimated to be 42,000 units per annum. To cater for the shortfall it is estimated that annual delivery should be approximately 120,000 housing units.
"This means that approximately 60 per cent of our national requirement remains unsatisfied," Vice President Mahama said.
He gave the assurance that government would encourage and support private companies, both foreign and domestic, especially the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), who were engaged in estate development, by releasing land and providing other incentives to enable them to bridge the housing deficit.
Ms Sherry Ayittey, Minster of Environment, Science and Technology, said the problem of housing shortage could be attributed to the high cost of building materials, since over 70 per cent of building inputs were imported.
"As a result of over-dependence on cement as the primary building material for housing, the cost of housing delivery continues to be very expensive, often beyond the means of majority of Ghanaians," she said, adding that "Portland cement which is extensively used in Ghana and produced from imported clinker and gypsum, cost the nation not less than 180 million dollars annually".
Ms Ayittey therefore called for the use of locally produced building materials like clay bricks and tiles and pozzolana in place of cement for building.
She also said the sector Ministry in collaboration with the Housing Ministry was to develop a national housing policy that would ensure the use of local raw materials in the housing and construction industry.
Dr Abdulai B. Salifu, Director-General of CSIR, said his outfit with its researchers was ready to assist in developing a policy that would help address the housing deficit using local raw materials produced by its scientists and researchers.