Moroccan Company To Build Houses In Ghana

A leading Moroccan real estate company, the Addoha Group, is to invest 100 million euros in affordable housing and cement production in Ghana. The company intends to construct an initial 5,000 housing units. Officials of the company have begun discussions with Ghanaian authorities for suitable land for the project. The General Manager of the group, Mr Saad Sefrioui, told the Presidential Press Corps shortly after a closed-door meeting with President John Dramani Mahama at the Flagstaff House yesterday that the company was also negotiating for land for the cement factory. President's support Mr Sefrioui described the meeting with President Mahama as very good, explaining that the President showed a keen interest in the project. "By March 6, 2014 we hope to sign an MoU with government officials for the construction of the cement project," he said He, therefore, expressed the hope that the issue of land, which was critical in the discussion, would be settled soon, since Ghana stood to gain a lot from the project. Housing deficit Touching on Ghana's housing deficit of 1.7 million, Mr Sefrioui said it was something that needed all the necessary attention to overcome. �That is why Addoha, which has an enviable track record in Africa, is determined to play a key role in addressing the problem,� he said. The Addoha Group The Addoha Group, with a turnover of one billion euros, had been operating in 17 major cities in Morocco until two years ago when it started penetrating Africa south of the Sahara. It has now established its presence in seven countries outside Morocco. Mr Sefrioui said the Addoha Group was determined to make a strong impact on the economy of Ghana. In doing that, he said, it was targeting low and middle-income groups who were in need of housing most. And in supporting such groups to own their own houses, he said, the group would be maintaining its leadership role in real estate in Africa. He also said the group�s presence in the production of cement would be so enormous that it would put a stop to the shortages the country sometimes faced. Later in the day, officials of the company had held discussions with their counterparts at the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre.