Symposium on affordable housing in June

Shelter Afrique, the pan-African finance institution supporting development of affordable housing and the real estate sector in Africa, and the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing have announced they will host the 34th Annual General Meeting and Symposium of the regional body in Accra, Ghana.

The Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing confirmed that the event will be taking place from the 1st-5th June 2015 at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra.

The ministry noted that it is customary for the Shelter Afrique AGM to rotate from one member-country to another, highlighting the AGM held in Ivory Coast in 2014.

The ministry is committed to hosting a successful AGM, and noted that bringing all 44 member-countries of Shelter Afrique denotes the governments’ commitment to making affordable housing a priority objective.

It will be recalled that Ghana joined the regional body in 2011, and in that period Shelter Afrique’s Board of Directors has approved investments worth US$44,050,000 toward support of the real estate sector in Ghana.

James Mugerwa, Managing Director of Shelter Afrique, also noted that this year’s theme will be centred on rental housing -- continuing discussions from the African Rental Housing Conference hosted by Shelter Afrique in October 2014.

He added that Shelter Afrique is excited to be bringing the AGM and symposium to Ghana, one if its most active markets.

The Managing Director also highlighted that Shelter Afrique is currently considering a pipeline of investments with a potential total loan value of US$28.7million.

The AGM and symposium are expected to have in attendance senior representatives of 44 African governments and private and public sector interests from all over Africa. Registration has opened on the Shelter Afrique website.

As the only pan-African finance institution that exclusively supports development of the housing and real estate sector in Africa, Shelter Afrique’s work has a direct and positive impact on the lives of many.

A partnership of 44 African governments, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Africa Reinsurance Company, Shelter Afrique builds strategic partnerships and offers a host of products and related services to support the efficient delivery of affordable housing and commercial real estate.

These include project finance, institutional lending, equity investments and joint ventures, trade finance, and social housing. Practical advice and technical assistance to a wide range of industry stakeholders are also provided.