The Vice-President of Ghana, Mr John Dramani Mahama, last Saturday launched the first visible programme of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) which involves the construction of low cost houses using local materials and new technology.

The construction of the houses, dubbed, “sustainable housing project” is a collaboration between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and SADA, with the UNDP committing over half a million dollars to the project while SADA provided GH¢2.5 million.

Mr Mahama, who launched the programme at Malzeri, a farming community in the Yendi district of the Northern Region, said the project will start on a pilot basis at Malzeri in the Northern Region, Paga in the Upper East and Wechau in the Upper West regions and later it will be extended to other parts of the country.

He said the introduction of the new building technology will help reduce the housing deficit in the country since the cost of houses will become affordable to the people.     

He said the adoption of the new technology will not only ensure that the local buildings will withstand the vagaries of the weather but also help reduce cost since the new technology uses less cement.

He said unlike other projects, this new housing scheme will not be awarded on contract but given to the communities who will provide labour for the construction and will be paid either in kind or in cash.

Mr Mahama encouraged district assemblies to adopt the new technology to help reduce the cost of housing projects.

Touching on SADAs activities, Mr Mahama said the Authority is not an event but a process, adding that it is an organisation which is going to ensure the implementation of its programmes and not one that is going to be measured by the number of vehicles it has criss-crossing the country.

He announced that a donor’s conference will be held this month at which the government will announce the seed capital for SADA while its development partners will also pledge their financial commitments.

Alhaji Gilbert Siedu Iddi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SADA, said the Authority will collaborate with research institutions and other organisations to use their research findings to solve the development challenges facing the people.

He said there is the need for peace in the area and asked the people to eschew conflict, saying that without peace there can be no development.

Ms Harmandip Ruby Sandhu-Rojon, the UNDP Resident representative in Ghana, said her organisation chose Malzeri for the construction of the low cost housing project because it is one of the flood prone areas.

She commended the people of the area for the communal spirit and their active participation in the building of a clinic for the village.

Vice-President Mahama later commissioned the new clinic which was built by the UNDP using the new technology for the people of Malzeri and paid a courtesy call on the Kampakugu-Na Abdulai Yakubu Andani, the Regent of Dagbon.

Courtesy: Jury Ghana