Atta Akyea, Works and Housing Minister
Ghana's Works and Housing Minister, Atta Akyea, has revealed that government would no longer pursue the idea of establishing a housing bank.
In an interview with an Accra based radio, CiTiFM, the Minister indicated that government would rather ease access to cheaper funds for existing banks to offer mortgage at affordable rates.
The Minister also explained that per the new plan, government will make available, pension funds to existing banks that will subsequently offer mortgages to prospective home owners at competitive rates.
He made the disclosure on the sidelines of the launch of a new African Construction Trends report by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited.
“We spoke about a possibility of having a bank for Housing and Construction but on hindsight we are of the humble view that every money that we get from the pension fund, we better give it to the already established banks by way of competitive bidding and then they could charge their administrative fees,” he said.
Mr. Atta Akyea, upon assuming office, was reported to have mentioned among others, the need to create a Housing and Construction bank to address the needs of prospective home owners.
This means that the bank will have offered rates which will be relatively lower compared to other commercial banks.
The move also follows the continuous rise in the housing deficit in Ghana estimated at 1.7 million units.
The figure, according to some experts, could escalate to 2 million by 2019.
Mr. Atta Akyea also believes the new model is effective as it will save the country the burden of the heavy capital investment in establishing a fully-fledged bank.
“We agreed on this because of the huge capital outlay in trying to get a bank. So they will just have a desk purposely for mortgages arrangements and that could be done also and it is cheaper,” he added.
The African Construction Trends report, highlights current shortfalls in executing construction projects and suggests how they could be addressed to get projects executed on budget and on time.
