Cement producers urged to reduce cost of product

Mankessim (C/R), Jan. 31, GNA - Mr Felix Nyarko Antwi, Vice Chairman of the Mfantseman West Constituency of the New Patriotic Party has urged cement manufacturing companies to reduce prices of their products to support the government's efforts to make housing affordable to the people.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Mankessim on Wednesday, Mr Nyarko Antwi urged the government to offer the necessary assistance to the manufacturers to enable them to make the prices affordable. He noted that for a bag of cement to cost between 65,000 and 90,000 cedis in a country where accommodation was in high demand was discouraging.
"The youth, especially those in low-in come employment can not put up their own houses," he lamented and added that "landlords have taken advantage of the situation to increase rents arbitrarily and to demand huge rent advances". Mr Nyarko Antwi stated that as a developing country the nation needed more cement in its development agenda and that more people should be given licence to import the product to make pricing competitive.