No Rent Control

The Minister of Works and Housing, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, has stated that there is no law regulating rent in the country.

?Rent in both the private and public sectors can be arbitrated but is not controlled, since there is no legislation on the regulation of rent,? a Radio Ghana report quoted Alhaji Idris as saying, at the opening of the second International Building Exhibition in Accra on Tuesday.

He said the government had no mechanism for controlling rent. He assured participants of the government?s commitment to ensuring the provision of decent and affordable housing accommodation in Ghana. The Exhibition Director, Mrs. Marilyn Efua Houadjeto, said the event was aimed at highlighting the efforts of policy-makers, implementers, regulators and all others involved in the real estate market to accelerate the delivery of affordable housing in Ghana.

She commended the government for supporting the exhibition, saying, ?it will go a long way to relieve Ghanaians of their housing problems.? The Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Works and Housing, Hon. Brandford Kwame Adu, called on the government to reduce the tariffs on imported building materials and to regulate the conduct of landowners.