General News of Wednesday, 27 February 2019

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Nima to get facelift; residents to get flushing toilets for the first time – Atta Akyea

Minister for works and housing, Samuel Atta Akyea Minister for works and housing, Samuel Atta Akyea

Minister for works and housing, Samuel Atta Akyea, has announced that slums including Nima will soon get a face lift.

According to him, government is set to construct a world class residential apartment and also provide them with "flushing toilets" for the first time.

He was quick to add that residents of Nima slum won't be affected by the move, there will be no dislodgement.

“There is a slum upgrading which is about to happen, that is the NIma area, we wouldn’t want to pay lip service to the fact that we have some Ghanaians who are living in slums. We want to begin with Nima and give Nima a facelift. For the first time we would see the good people of Nima flushing toilet like anybody would do in East Legon and this is going to happen” He said.

"The plan for Nima is very simple, we are not going to dislodge them, we are going to create world class residential apartment for them and then just on the side will be another extra facilities for the well to do. So you could see a slum which is been converted to a decent area and you could see the villagio types on the right and their place on the left" he added

He also added that government is taking steps to address the drainage challenges in the country.

“We are addressing the drainage challenges in this country and if you look at the ancient troubles of the Odaw river, proper measures have been put in place to address this”.

During the state of the nation address Akufo-Addo hinted that there is draft plan to get rid of Nima as one of the oldest slums in the country.

The plan according to the president, “will not dislodge a single person in Nima” but will decently accommodate them in the new housing plan.

The President is hopeful that this massive housing project will create massive jobs for artisans, dealers in building materials and financial institutions across the nation.

He added that the government has allocated funds in “the 2019 budget for the construction of two hundred thousand (200,000) housing units, and a database of local and foreign developers has been created to help make this policy a reality. “