Executive Secretary of Ghana Real Estate Development Association (GREDA), Samuel Amegayibor, has asked the government to compel contractors who have been given government contracts to procure at least 10 % locally manufactured materials for the projects.
“If we don’t have a government that is willing to patronize local building materials then how can we develop the industry?” He quizzed while speaking on the Sunrise show with Alfred Ocansey on 3FM.
Mr Amegayibor revealed that the prices of cement and iron rods have gone up by 27 % making construction more expensive in Ghana.
It is recalled that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in a meeting with the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry at the Jubilee House last month expressed concern about the high cost of buildings in Ghana.
“You get mansions for that in many parts of America. Yes, a $100,000; $200,000 maximum. We need to find the solution to how we can build strong houses here, but cheaply,” the President admonished the sector players.
But Mr. Amegayibor said in order to reudce the cost the government must put measures in place to reduce the cost of building materials .
“A profiling of people who buy houses will show that even senior public and civil servants cannot afford a thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) house over a ten years mortgage period unless they have other streams of income,” he said.
“I thought that COVID has taught us good lessons but we haven’t taken measures to unravel to get around the problem and we are still where are.
By Samuel Afriyie Owusu|3news.com|Ghana
