Govt will enforce building regulations

18/09/09

Story: Musah Yahaya Jafaru

Vice-President John Dramani Mahama yesterday opened the seventh International Building and Construction Exhibition and Seminars in Accra, and reiterated the government’s commitment to enforce building regulations in the country.
He said the government's failure to enforce building regulations had resulted in the construction of poor quality houses and the springing up of haphazard settlements and slums in the urban and rural areas of the country.
Therefore, he said, the enforcement of the building regulations would stop the execution of shoddy work and the springing up of uncontrolled buildings and slums.
Mr Mahama made the remarks in a speech read on his behalf by the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Albert Abongo, at the launch of the exhibition.
Products on display at the four-day exhibition include floor and wall tiles, building blocks, paints, lights, electric plugs and lockers. It is being organised by Image Consortium on the theme: "Attaining Ghana's Housing and Construction Objectives Through Efficient Planning, Designing and Innovation".
Mr Mahama said the "indiscriminate and uncontrolled" erection of houses in urban and rural areas and the growth of slums resulted in the blockade of watercourses.
That situation, he said, led to the loss of lives and property whenever it rained heavily.
Besides, he said, the slums had serious sanitation problems which affected the lives of the squatters.
Mr Mahama, therefore, urged constructors to observe building ethics to stop the putting up of uncoordinated buildings in the country.
He gave the assurance that the Government would partner with the private sector to promote the growth of the building and construction industry.
The chairman of the exhibition, Mr Frank Tackie, called for a national policy to support players in the building and construction industry to enable them to develop local building materials and consequently reduce the importation of local ones.
He asked the players in the industry to shift their attention from solely marketing their products to getting more affordable products for more Ghanaians.
The Director of the exhibition, Mrs Marilyn Efua Houadjeto, said for Ghana to have independent, well-planned and properly developed cities and towns, "we need to constantly run advocacy campaigns and strategic events".
Besides, she said, attaining Ghana's housing and construction objectives implied the deployment of resources, facilities, products, services, as well as the formulation and implementation of policies that guaranteed the security of physical, economic and social well-being of communities.