Francis Asenso-Boakye (left), Minister of Works & Housing, with Maimunah Mohd Sharif
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, has renewed its commitment to partnering the government of Ghana in attaining sustainable urbanization, and improving on climate change adaptation.
This was made known during the ongoing World Urban Forum (WUF11), where the Minister of Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye, met with the Executive Director of the UN- Habitat Programme, Maimunah Mohd Sharif, in Katowice, Poland.
The World Urban Forum (WUF11) was under the theme “Transforming our cities for a better urban future”. The two leaders in their engagement explored, among others, possible collaborations geared towards addressing both national and global issues.
They also discussed climate change adaptation, rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities and economies, as well as the provision of sustainable human settlements aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 11, which focuses in making “cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”.
Commitment
The UN-Habitat Executive Director commended Ghana for being part of the few countries that had prepared and submitted their report on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. She stressed the need to prioritise Affordable Housing in cities because of its linkages to the provision of basic and essential services such as water, sanitation and public health.
“The provision of Affordable Housing is one of the surest ways to ensure that cities are planned and developed in a more sustainable manner which ultimately impact on a larger segment of the society,” Mohd Sharif added.
She lauded plans by the Minister to institute a National Urban Forum, a platform to engage local stakeholders across various levels to investigate opportunities,
This, she said, would strengthen cities’ resilience and deepen the understanding of the relationship between national urban policies and contemporary crises.
“It will also provide a platform for high-level discussion on the potential of national urban policies to address challenges in the fields of environment, housing, mobility, spatial planning and innovation and technology. Let’s take climate change adaptation serious,” she admonished.
Housing deficit
Mr Asenso-Boakye re-echoed the need to prioritise Affordable Housing to address housing shortages for a large segment of cities. This, he said, would ensure that cities are planned and built in a more sustainable and inclusive manner.
He said Ghana had currently developed a framework that seeks to provide housing in a more organised and sustainable manner to address the housing challenges facing the country.
“To achieve this, I believe, there is the need to create a robust institutional framework to develop and implement Affordable Housing Programmes across the country, hence our decision to establish a Ghana Housing Authority. The National Housing Authority will not only serve as a regulator in the sector but also plan, develop, and manage housing development in Ghana,” the Minister noted.
According to him, the Ministry would lead the process to engage key stakeholders within the sector to set up the NHA and also find ingenious ways of creating the enabling environment. “This would provide opportunity for the private sector to lead in the provision of safe, decent affordable housing for the low-to medium earning Ghanaian,” he indicated.
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