Government has constructed and delivered a total of 1,000 housing units to security agencies in the country since 2017, significantly alleviating the housing challenges faced by these essential service members.
This milestone was celebrated at the commissioning ceremony of 320 new housing units for the Ghana Police Service, held at the Police Training School in Tesano, Accra on Tuesday, July 23, 2024.
Speaking at the brief commissioning exercise, Minister for Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, highlighted the government's commitment to enhancing the living conditions of security personnel in the country.
“Decent housing enriches the lives of our people. It gives our people dignity. It provides our communities with decent housing, create jobs and incomes for hundreds of people, increases economic activity and growth in the housing sector of the economy and ultimately develops our communities into well-planned settlement. For specialized worker groups like the security services, further boosting their morale and help them in their discharge of their duties.
The event saw the presence of the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, and other high-ranking members of the service, as well as several government officials.
Since assuming office in 2017, the Akufo-Addo led administration has focused on providing decent accommodation for various worker groups, including the security services. These units include a Naval Command housing units in Tema which has 368 apartments including a multi-purpose sports center and a playground for personnel and their families, 312 new Police housing units in Kwabenya and the 320 recently commissioned Police homes in Tesano.
This new service personnel homes include 7 blocks of 2-bedroom apartments and 13 blocks of 3-bedroom apartments, each block containing 16 apartments. The project also features a multi-purpose sports facility, a kindergarten school, and other auxiliary residential facilities. These projects collectively bring the total number of homes constructed for the security services to 1,000 since 2017.
The Minister emphasized the administration's dedication to fulfilling its manifesto promises and enhancing the lives of security personnel through improved housing conditions. He noted that decent housing not only enriches lives but also boosts morale and enhances service delivery.
"In keeping fidelity with the spirit of the promises made on page 25 of his 2016 manifesto, President Akufo-Addo, upon assuming office in 2017, commenced efforts to expand the provision of housing in Ghana in general and in particular for various worker groups," the Minister stated.
The Minister also highlighted other ongoing and future housing projects aimed at further addressing the national housing deficit and improving living conditions for various sectors.
These include the 1,700 affordable homes by Tema Development Corporation (TDC)in Kpone, affordable the 405 affordable homes by the National Homeownership Fund in Community 22, 822 units of the State Housing Company Projects in various locations, 600 bungalow redevelopment programme in Accra for civil servants, the 8,000 Pokuase-Afiaman housing units which is under construction and the 200 State Housing units in Amrahia as well as the 150 units NHF Phase 3 housing project in Tema.
This the Minister assured that government is committed to continuing its efforts to improve housing infrastructure across the country. He mentioned the establishment of the Public Sector Workers Housing Unit within the housing directorate of the Ministry, which has secured land and concluded designs for 1,000 more units for other security services in various parts of the country.
He said all these initiatives when consolidated will help reduce Ghana’s housing deficit which currently standa at 1.8 million.
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