Workshop on transforming government houses opens

Accra, Sept. 21, GNA - Mr I.K. Adjei-Mensah, Minister of Works and Housing, on Tuesday opened a two-day workshop to discuss a code of practice to transform former government houses in line with building and environmental regulations.

The workshop on "Transformation of Government-Built Dwellings as House Supply," is organised by the Department of Housing and Planning of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the Centre for Architectural Research and Development Overseas (CARDO) of the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom.

It aims, among other things, at demonstrating that the extension and alteration of government-built estate housing is a valuable and efficient means of housing supply for low-income or ordinary households. These must be done without demand for additional valuable urban land and should be undertaken through official channels.

The workshop follows recommendations from an international comparative project on alteration and extension activity in housing carried out by Ghana, Egypt, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe on "Transformations of Government-built Low Cost Housing as Generators of Shelter and Employment".

The Ghana case study was conducted at Asawasi and Suntreso in Kumasi under the British Council administered academic link programme between 1992 and 1994. Mr Adjei-Mensah expressed concern about haphazard manner in which some of "these extensions are undertaken" and expressed the hope that the workshop would address them.

"Statistics have shown that most of the extra housing supply in Kumasi in the 1980's for example, came through the extension of existing buildings rather than the construction of new ones... "Also many commercial, industrial and retail activities are being carried out in these areas to the extent that the dwellings can no longer be regarded as simply residential areas, but complete parts of the city.

"It has been the worry of the Ministry whether these extensions are encouraging the decline of these areas". Mr Adjei-Mensah underscored the need to provide adequate housing for all categories of people, saying the government had initiated several moves to facilitate this.

"A national Shelter Strategy has also been formulated and is currently being reviewed to achieve accelerated home improvement and the upgrading of the housing stock in order that shelter of adequate quality may be available to the population as a whole".

The strategy also promotes greater private-sector participation in housing delivery by creating an enabling environment through the elimination of constraints and improving access to resource inputs. Mr Adjei-Mensah stressed that the government had since 1987 shifted its policy from direct provision of housing to facilitating access to the various resources for housing development.

Professor Stephen E. Owusu, Head of the Department of Housing and Planning Research, KNUST, said the objective of the study was to assess the relative importance of the motives and factors contributing to transformation activities.

It also established the means by which construction work is carried out and described the financial arrangements used. He said the Kumasi study involved both transformed and non-transformed estates houses while various stakeholders including renters were interviewed.

Prof. Owusu was hopeful that when guided, occupants of such houses would contribute towards solving the acute housing problem. Mr Desmond Wood of DFID, expressed the commitment of his government towards alleviating poverty and improving the standard of living in developing countries. He said it was important to make good use of research findings and not dump them on the shelves as is usually done.