Has Ghana’s Government Dropped the Ball on Urban Planning?

Written by Makula Dunbar

Jun 27, 2014

The Ghana Real Estates Development Association (GREDA) has expressed its dissatisfaction with the abysmal planning of urban areas across the country.

The Executive Director of the Association, Sammy Amegayibor, who made this known in Accra yesterday at the launch of the 5th edition of the MultiTV/HFC Bank Habitat Fair 2014, said government had failed to effectively plan Ghana’s cities.

According to him, there had been a lot of haphazard planning by city authorities in recent times that have affected human lives and the general outlook of the nation.

“There are a lot of haphazard planning that have affected our cities in recent times,” he said, adding that the collapse of the Melcom Mall and a building at Nii Boi Town showed the ineffective planning and execution of housing projects in the country.

In line with this, he called on the government to do what he described as “appropriate and effective planning before execution of housing projects across the country.”

Mr. Amegayibor also called on the government to establish a national housing authority that would be empowered to deal with housing issues and housing deficits in the country.

“There is the need also to separate the housing sector from the Water Resources and Works Ministry because there is no meaningful result coming from the combining of the housing sector with the Water and Works Ministry,” he emphasized.

He disclosed that GREDA would soon unveil a journal titled: ‘GREDA Real Estate’ to create awareness on proper planning of houses.