Affordable housing scheme takes off in Wa soon

Wa, May 30, GNA - Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing has announced that government was spending 120 million Ghana Cedis on the Affordable Housing Project in six regions of the country.

He said government was committed to completing three of the projects in Accra and Kumasi and later decide on the third region to benefit from the project.

Alhaji Boniface announced this during a two-day working visit to the Upper West Region to inspect government projects under the Ministry and interact with workers to find out their problems with the view to addressing them. He said government was committed to providing decent accommodation for workers to help address their needs to enhance productivity at workplaces He said work on government's Affordable Housing Project would start in Wa soon with four-unit blocks comprising 32 flats to provide decent accommodation for workers in the region. He asked contractors who had been awarded the contract to get themselves in readiness to move to the site to begin work. Alhaji Boniface explained that the project was on a two-tie system, one for rental purposes and the other for mortgage system to enable government workers to acquire their own accommodation before retirement. He said government would compensate all farmers whose land had been taken for the project and appealed to them to exercise patience due to the delay in finding money to pay them.

He asked district assemblies to acquire land for similar projects to facilitate the acceptance of transfers by workers to the districts to work there.

On the Wa water project, Alhaji Boniface announced that government was looking for a 35-million euro support from the donor community and development partners to undertake the project to improve water supply in the municipality. Mr. George Hikah Benson, Upper West Regional Minister said water supply in the Municipality was not enough for the people and expressed his happiness that government had made moves to find funding for the project. He commended government for taking the appropriate measures of providing decent accommodation for workers in the region. On the sale of low cost houses, Alhaji Boniface advised the Regional Coordinating Council to give the occupants first option to buy the houses and should as well make the prices affordable to them.