Mr Sammy Amegayibor, the Executive Director of Ghana Real Estate Development Agency, has appealed to government to reduce fuel prices in order to cushion the business community against the current economic challenge.

He said government should look at the importance of taxes from a bigger perspective of the real estate industry.

Mr Amegayibor told the Ghana News Agency that the government stood to lose more if businesses collapse or experience contraction rather than growth.

The country has been experiencing power cuts for some months now and this has not only affected homes but industries, including real estate.

He said the high cost of purchasing fuel for power generators would not only affect the real estate sector, but the economy as a whole.

“I believe that when you have a problem you should look at the checks and balances. In this case, the government is losing out because businesses are folding,” he added.

He said if it was government’s duty to collect taxes to develop the nation and the businesses themselves are folding, then government is losing out on its source of income.

The Executive Director said in this current situation, it would be more prudent for the government to remove some of the taxes on fuel, reducing the price of fuel was crucial to the business community because most of them now tend to buy fuel for power generators to support productivity.

Ms Akua Nyame-Mensah, the Managing Director of Lanudi Ghana, said there was the need for the country to focus on sustainable energy development.

She said investment in solar energy and sustainable building would save the country hundreds of megawatts of energy.

She said the short-term solution would be to introduce some form of tax relief to the business community in order to ensure its survival.

“Currently, start-ups will be facing a huge challenge just to survive with the current power crisis, while other business units may have to fold up as a result,” she said.

She was of the opinion that sustainable energy building were key to ensuring not only the survival of the business community, but crucial to cutting costs to government.”