Accra, Sept. 24, GNA - Mr Albert Abongo, Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, on Thursday said Ghana needed a maximum output of not less than 100,000 houses a year for the next five years to totally wipe off the country's housing deficit of 500,000. He noted that the realization of the goal was becoming more challenging as the current housing stock was increasing at an average of 25,000 per annum vis-=E0-vis increasing population and demand. Mr Abongo was speaking at the annual seminar of the Valuation and Estate Surveying (VES) Division of the Ghana Institute of Surveyors to consider the current nature of the Ghanaian Real Estate Market and also to enhance the professional competences of surveyors. The two-day seminar was on the theme, "The Emerging Property Market: Trends and Practices, and had attracted participants from Nigeria.

Mr Bongo said an attempt such as the Affordable Housing Project was being vigorously pursued to solve the housing deficit, and appealed to members of the division to find ways of presenting the best professional advice with the most globally accepted standards.

"I make this appeal because Ghana is increasingly gaining a huge international reputation for our democratic credentials which is a fertile ground for increased capital inflow," he explained. He noted that any discussion of the property market would be incomplete without throwing the spot light on the Lands Administration regime in the country, and urged the division to thoroughly examine the theme chosen in relation to its practice to improve its service delivery to both government and the private sector.

The Minister said the commitment of the government to a better Ghana related very much to the housing sector, in that the property market had a great potential for both job and wealth creation.

"If we are to work for a better Ghana, I believe a vibrant property market would form a significant base. Firstly, it would lead to the employment of a cross section of Ghanaians especially unskilled and various work men," he added.

He said the employment of those people would trigger a chain of better pay and better living standards for families.

Mr Kwadwo Osei-Asante, President of the Ghana Institute of Surveyors, called for honest and transparent examination of the manner in which valuation practice had been carried out in Ghana over the years and how they could incorporate the new trends of practice in a more improved standard of practice backed by a reliable data base. He also challenged surveyors to change their ethical dimensions of conduct and attitude towards the profession, adding that the issue of money being the central focus must change to performance with competence.

"Moral values must be resuscitated. Where there is no hope, people mismanage their affairs. In a country where standards and values stood on the head and to do the right thing is fiercely resisted, it behoves on us as surveying professionals to be exemplary," Mr Osei Asante said. Mr James E.K. Dadson, Chairman of the VES, said surveyors had a huge responsibility in ensuring that the lead role in the quest for meeting the expectations of civil society was not compromised in any manner on the altar of mediocrity.

He said to make the significant progress in the real estate sector, problems of multiple ownership of land and level of interest, insecurity of title, among others, would have to be vigorously tackled. Dr Wilfred K. Anim-Odame, Deputy Chief Valuer, Valuation Division of the Lands Commission, said with determination and a little sacrifice they could construct the first ever Ghanaian Real Estate Index to stimulate the real estate development market as an investment vehicle. He noted that real estate had proven to deliver investment rewards and to be a good hedge against the volatile Ghanaian inflation.