Accra, Sept. 15, GNA - The Ninth International Building Construction and Property Exhibition opened in Accra on Thursday with a call on stakeholders to collaborate to ensure effective housing delivery in the country.

Dr Mustapha Ahmed, a Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, who made the call, said an effective partnership with the private sector would help to meet the country's housing deficit. It is estimated that the country has a deficit of about 1.5 million units. Dr Ahmed told participants at the opening session that government woul= d continue to support the exhibition as a key vehicle of ensuring housing and water delivery. The four-day event, being organised by Image Consortium, will showcase the various products, services and technology in the building and property industry.

It also seeks to offer best deals that people can find in the industry and serve as a one-stop shop for products and services while providing a platform to discuss pertinent issues affecting the industry, as well as provide professional solutions to them.

Various seminars and workshops would be organised alongside the exhibition which is on the theme: 93A Passion for Excellence Let us Build Together". Mrs Marilyn Efua Houdjeto, Executive Director of Image Consortium, sai= d efforts must be made to stem the tide of bad environmental practices and lack of adherence to laid down plan in the building and construction industry. She asked government to take a firm stand on such issues in its planning policies and developmental agenda and called for empowering of the Town and Country Planning to have demarcated areas for Real Estate Developers.

"Because we fail to effectively and efficiently plan the general lay= out of our cities, towns, and villages, they have over the years become nothing to write home about."

Mrs Houdjeto explained, 93We have blatantly refused to take into ampl= e consideration the growing size of the population, the choice of new and improved materials for construction, the change in our atmosphere, specifically climate change and most importantly waste disposal". The exhibition would showcase inputs in building and construction, interior D=E9coration, furniture, as well as security systems. Exhibitors are from Ghana, Egypt, Italy, Germany, Dubai, France and th= e United Kingdom.

There would be two business conferences, one in the afternoon of the opening day and the second on Friday, September 16. Another feature of the exhibition would be the strategic clinic revamped to deal with pertinent questions in the industry such as health an= d safety in construction, business opportunities in construction, mortgage an= d facility management scheduled for Saturday, September 17.