Director of Lakeside Estate, Salah Kwaku Kalmoni has supported an alternative solution to Ghana’s housing deficit.
The innovative businessman believes the introduction of kiosk settlement will go a long way to reduce the incidence of people sleeping on the streets, and being unable to afford safe and hygienic accommodation.
“The introduction of proper wooden structures with public washrooms and toilets are better than what exist now. To me that is a solution but most people will not buy them and will rather rent them. At least when that is done we would’ve improved the livelihood of people living in that settlement,” he shared.
As a member of the Ghana Real Estates Development Association (GREDA), he says his focus is on the business side of construction and not social reengineering. “Differentiating affordable housing from subsidized housing, he indicated that the resettlement idea lies in the abode of national governments.
During a discussion on the Happy Development Dialogue series on the ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ show on the topic, ‘Affordable Housing in Ghana, a Reality or a Mirage’, he noted, “Where people have these illegal settlements need to be legalized in the sense that we rebuild them properly up to maximum standards. I saw some kiosks which are 1.5 by 1.5 and that shouldn’t be. We must have them 2 by 3 which is like 6 square meters. Whenever we have such communities we need to have a communal system for showers and toilets for both males and females, and that will at least bring sanitation.”
He indicated that the pricing of these kiosk settlements may increase from GHc50 a month to GHc150, “but at least it will be better than what we have as the idea will also improve livelihood and will be more hygienic.”
Preliminary report from the Ghana Statistical Service on the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) has revealed that about 2.1 million structures are metal containers, kiosks and structures.
This number represents twenty percent of the 10.7 million structures listed in the Population and Housing Census.
According to the report, “The 2021 PHC is the first time that data was collected on all structures regardless of use. Previous censuses only collected information on structures used for residential purposes. The 2010 PHC recorded 3.4 structures for residential use, which is 2.5 million less the 5.9 counted in 2021”.
