The Minister for Works and Housing, Francis Asenso Boakye, says the Ministry is adopting initiatives to encourage the use of locally-produced building materials in the construction of public and private facilities.
The Minister believes the government’s commitment to providing affordable housing to Ghanaians can be realized with the use of locally-produced raw materials that are less expensive.
He said this when he visited a bricks manufacturing factory as part of his three-day tour of the Ashanti Region.
In a Citi News interview on the sidelines of the tour, Mr. Asenso Boakye shared the Ministry’s vision for the locally-produced building materials.
“We intend to encourage their use and to create effective demand for them. Once we are able to achieve that, a lot of people will come into the production, and we will be able to produce in mass quantities. That is the only way we can make them affordable. As of now, they are not necessarily cheap compared to the blocks. In this age where the cost of cement keeps increasing, we have no option than to resort to these local building materials.”
“One of the first steps I’ve taken is to actively engage the Minister of Education, Dr. Adutwum to make sure that the Minister adopts the use of these materials in their school projects. I have also engaged the Ministry of Health to do same for the CHPS compound projects. We intend to make the use of local building materials an integral part of the government’s affordable housing project,” he noted.
