The United Nations Office of Project Services (UNOPS) says it will rally public and private sector support towards providing infrastructural development, particularly affordable homes in Ghana.
The Executive Director of UNOPS, Ms Crete Faremo made the pledge on Wednesday when Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia cut the sod for the construction of 6,500 housing units at Afiaman, near Amasaman.
The housing project formed part of the UNOPS and Sustainable Housing Solutions (SHS) 100,000 affordable housing scheme worth five billion dollars being undertaken across the country.
Ms Faremo said the housing units would be constructed on sites across the country saying; “this is a game changer.”
The project, she said, went beyond affordable housing and would improve thousands of lives, provide local jobs and support sustainable economy.
Ms Faremo added that the housing project demonstrated UNOPS’ Social Impact Investing Initiative (S3I), which aims at attracting financing from the private sector to develop projects in emerging markets.
“A 100,000 homes, let that figure sink in; think about it. This is a game changer.
”We are bridging the gap between private investment and development infrastructure. We plan to build 850,000 affordable homes,” she stressed.
The total value of the project in Ghana is over five billion dollars.
UNOPS is expected to build about 850,000 homes across Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.
It is the largest affordable housing scheme the world has ever seen.
In Asia, India and Pakistan are the two beneficiaries, while Ghana and Kenya are benefitting in Africa.
Ghana’s housing deficit is in excess of two million and projected to increase to 2.2 million in a few years.
The new partnership will also explore new opportunities in the renewable market, with UNOPS expected to work with Energy, a subsidiary of SHS, which focuses on investments in renewable energy projects and associated infrastructure.
It is the latest step in the UNOPS Social Impact Investing Initiative (S3I), which aims at attracting financing from the private sector to develop projects in emerging markets.
The technology is earthquake and hurricane resistant and constituent with the utilisation of renewable energy and non-toxic insect-repellent properties.
The concept aims at providing a ‘turn-key solution’ to reduce the current shortfall of tens of millions of decent dwellings.
