The Vice President of the Republic, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has cut sod for work to begin on the construction of 320 Housing units for the Ghana Police Service.

The Police Housing project, which will be made up of 112 two bedroom apartments, and 208 three bedroom apartments, will be constructed as part of Government’s plan to provide decent accommodation for the security services and other government agencies.

An additional 10,000 housing units for the security agencies are also expected to be constructed under the Infrastructure for Bauxite barter arrangement between the Government of Ghana and Sinohydro Corporation/the Chinese Government negotiated by the Vice President as part of his official visit to China last year.

The 10,000 housing units for the security services under the Sinohydro project will be the largest single undertaking of its kind since independence, Vice President Bawumia announced at the ceremony, held at the National Police Training School at Tesano, Accra on Monday 13th August, 2018.

“I would like to assure the Security Services that this project will not be the last. Government has reached advanced stages with Sinohydro Corporation Limited for the construction of houses and court structures for the Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Prisons Service, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana National Fire Services and the Judicial Service.”

All over the country, police personnel are not properly housed. Some live in rented civilian accommodation, scattered in towns and cities, which have the real tendency to hamper emergency mobilization of forces, efficient coordination and command effectiveness.

Government, the Vice President, assured, is also working to address the national housing deficit, which is estimated to be in excess of 1.7 million units and could rise to 2 million by 2020, through the implementation of policies and programmes designed to create a functioning mortgage market.

“The solution to Ghana’s housing deficit problem does not however depend on the public sector alone. The private sector is key. For the private sector to fill the gap, Ghana must have a functioning mortgage market with lower interest rates.

“To accomplish this, Government is implementing a number of initiatives including the land registry digitization project, Digital Case tracking system for the courts, the National ID Card, the Digital Address System, and ensuring macroeconomic stability,” the Vice President indicated.

Vice President Bawumia urged the Ghana Police Service to strive to meet the highest standards of professionalism in the discharge of their duties to the nation ass government works to address their accommodation and other challenges.

Also present at the ceremony were the Minister for Interior, Hon Ambrose Dery; Minister for Works and Housing, Hon Samuel Atta Akyea; Inspector General of Police David AsanteApeatu; members of the Police Council, as well senior and junior officers of the Ghana Police Service.