Phastor Limited, a leading concrete products and roofing sheets manufacturer in the country, is to construct 120 affordable houses at Oyibi in Accra by the first quarter of this year.
The two to three-bedroom houses, which will be built on a serviced plot with water and electricity on site, will be targeted at the lower to middle income earners in the country.
The Managing Director of the company, Mr John Stephen Sam, who disclosed this to the Graphic Business, said �we intend to rely on the quality but affordable building materials we produce to beat the cost of housing construction down drastically.�
�We will be cheaper than competition because we are already producing building materials and roofing sheets and, therefore, we will use what we produce to build the houses at cheaper costs,� he said.
According to him, the company has been at the forefront of producing concrete and roofing products for many real estate developers in the country. He noted that �this time, we also want to venture into that area to see how best we can contribute our quota to improving the housing stock in the country at affordable rates.�
Housing deficit
Rough estimates of the country�s housing deficit stands at about 1.5 million units.
The huge deficit has come about as a result of varied reasons, including high cost of houses on sale, land litigation and the virtual lack of a clear policy direction by the government in bridging the gap.
According to myjoyonline.com, Ghana�s Housing Delivery System, with about 2.2m units, is private sector led, which constitutes about 90 per cent with private means.
Owner occupiers are about 57 per cent, persons living in family houses without payment of rent�19.0 per cent and perchers�one per cent, whilst persons on rent are 22 per cent of the housing stock, based on the 2000 population and housing census.
The average annual housing requirement is put at 130,000 but the delivery is only 40,000.
While these figures are paraded around, there is also some concerns about data on housing in the country.
It is against this background that the President of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), Mr Kwakye Dopoah Dei, decried the unavailability of proper data on the housing industry in the country.
According to him, the situation poses a serious problem as there is the need to keep count and also have a data that would have on record all houses in the country for an effective plan of infrastructure.
He was, therefore, hopeful that the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing would this year collaborate actively with the association to come out with a plan that would help solve the housing data problem.
Phastor products
The company specialises in the production of pre-stressed beams and ceiling blocks for storey buildings. It also produces culvert pipes, building blocks, pavement blocks, septic tanks, kerbs and walkways, among many others.
Another area of specialty for Phastor is the production of long span roofing sheets for real estate development.
Mr Sam said the company had been able to produce quality products because of the new state-of-the-art equipment it had acquired.
He said in the New Year and beyond, the company would strive to greater heights by ensuring that it produced to meet customer expectations.
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