Alhaji Collins Dauda, minister designate for Water Resources Works and Housing, has assured that he will fight Ghana’s housing deficit within the period of 10 years by providing 170,000 housing units per year when given the nod to serve in government.

According to him, the country currently has a huge housing deficit of 1.7 million and stressed that the housing sector will be his first priority when confirmed as minister.

The Asutifi South Member of Parliament taking his turn before the Appointment Committee of Parliament on Thursday stated that as part of his party’s vision, he would work assiduously to provide decent accommodation to all Ghanaians.

“We do not think we will be able to deal with the deficit over a short period, therefore, we propose to deal with the issue within the period of 10 years, in which case every year we will provide 170,000 housing unit to be able to deal with the challenge,” he said.

Alhaji Dauda intimated that the NDC government will resort to private sector partnership to ensure that every home gets access to potable water supply.

“At the national level we have been able to produce only 152 million gallons of water a day, and the demand is about 236 million a day and that shows a short fall of about 84 million gallons a day. In Accra alone we have production level of 89 million gallons a day whiles the demand is122 million gallons a day which also leaves a short falls of 34 million gallons a day”, he pointed out.

He, however, noted that despite all structures put in place to deal with the situation, people still go round carrying yellow gallons in the country in search of water.

He said: “This means all is not well in the water delivery system therefore in line with the vision of the President we will engage the private sector in addressing the situation both in rural and urban areas”.