The Minority in Parliament has accused the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) of paying lip-service to solving the country�s huge housing deficit, which stands at over 1.8 million units.
In approving the budget estimate for the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing by Parliament on Tuesday, a ranking member of the committee on Water Resources, Works and Housing and New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Ablekuma North, Justice Joe Appiah said the politicization of the �affordable� housing units, started by the NPP government, had worsened the housing problem in the country.
According to him, 4,700 affordable housing units, which were started by the NPP administration in 2007 and were at various stages of completion, had been left to rot after the NDC took over power in 2009.
�Mr Speaker, five years after taking over power, not a single unit of the affordable housing project has been completed,� adding that �it has taken persistent pressure for the government to unwillingly continue with the affordable housing scheme.
He said in order to address the huge deficit in the housing sector and provide affordable houses for workers, the government must commit itself to securing the necessary funds to build affordable houses for workers and families.
The Minority questioned why such a good project which was meant to address the acute housing problems in the country should be left in limbo after NDC took power.
The Minister of Water, Resource Works and Housing, Alhaji Collins Dauda, in a response, said the lack of funding had stalled the affordable housing projects.
According to him, funds have been made available for the continuation of the project and that the housing units in Accra are almost completed while those in the other regional capitals are steadily going on.
�The government is committed to bridging the huge housing deficit in the country and that under the Government National Housing Scheme, an agreement for the construction of 5,000 affordable housing units for public and civil servants and the security service at Saglemi, near Prampram, in the Greater Accra Region and other parts of the country was signed between the government of Ghana and Construtora OAS of Brazil and the project is expected to commence in 2014,� he said.
Hon Joe Appiah also called on the government to commit itself to providing potable water in the rural areas and semi-urban areas because water had become an essential commodity.
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