Government presenting ‘expensive’ housing projects as ‘affordable’ - Samuel Amegayibor

Secretary to the Executive Council of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), Samuel Amegayibor, is accusing government of deceiving Ghanaians into believing they are actually providing quality buildings at affordable prices when they are in actual fact providing buildings which are more expensive compared to those offered by private companies.

Mr. Amegayibor of the Ghana Real Estate

Read full articleDevelopers Association welcomed attempts by government to provide houses for the people of Ghana but maintained that the projects should not be tagged as ‘affordable’.

Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, last Monday cut sod for work to begin on the construction of 320 Housing units for the Ghana Police Service.

The Police housing project, which will be made up of 112 tw- bedroom apartments, and 208 three-bedroom apartments, will be constructed as part of Government’s plan to provide decent accommodation for the security services and other government agencies.

An additional 10,000 housing units for the security agencies are also expected to be constructed under the Infrastructure for Bauxite barter arrangement between the Government of Ghana and Sinohydro Corporation of the Chinese Government negotiated by the Vice President as part of his official visit to China last year.

The 10,000 housing units for the security services under the Sinohydro project will be the largest single undertaking of its kind since independence, Dr Bawumia noted.



But speaking at the launch of GN Bank’s Ahomka Court; an affordable housing project provided by Yorke Properties, Mr Amegayibor said “I did a quick calculation and checked the cost of what government was talking about for the police and I realized that the average price for the government housing for the police was $140,000 per unit.”

He added what GN Bank and Yorke Properties have provided cost $120, 000 for a three-bedroom and $90, 000 for a two-bedroom house.

“If a private developer without any support from government is able to provide houses that are cheaper than what government is providing, then I think we have a problem in this country,” he noted.

“I don’t see why those that are doing so well have not been called, have not been tapped into their knowledge and we keep giving contracts to foreigners in this country and the local contractors continue to suffer whilst the foreigners get all the free things but still their prices are higher than what the local producers are producing in the market,” he stressed.

The Ahomka Court is a 16-housing property of GN Bank to provide affordable housing for the ordinary Ghanaian.

The property located at Madina a suburb of Accra has a constant water and electricity supply for its occupants, 24-hour security as well as an insurance package from GN life assurance.