Irene Agyenkwa (Director, Ghana Property Awards)

Irene Agyenkwa (Director, Ghana Property Awards)

2019 GAPOA DIRECTOR’S SPEECH

Mr. Chairman, the Honourable Minister of Works and Housing, Special Invited Guests, I deem it a great privilege to welcome you all to the 2019 Ghana Property Awards. It’s an honour I don’t take for granted as with every successive year, it takes more energy, resources, consultation, negotiation, focus and efort to organise the Awards.

Going over my previous welcome speeches, I realised that the one constant theme has been complaints about the general economy, its efect on the real estate industry and consequently, how tough it has been to get industry players to show interest in the Awards. Tis year is no exception; and 2019 has been the most challenging so far as the organisation of the Awards is concerned. I take note that I said the exact thing last year.

Te fnancial sector crisis has shown no signs of abating; with several depositors struggling to retrieve their investments from troubled fnancial houses, and the surviving institutions being cautious with their credit creation services, the Real Estate industry has been greatly afected from both the supply and the demand sides. Tus a less than vibrant industry has become even more lethargic. Perhaps, the one silver lining in the medium to long term is that investors will fnd the option of keeping their money with fnancial houses less attractive and rather invest in ventures such as real estates.

Te fgure of 1.7 million housing defcit has been bandied about for the past 10 decades and counting, and as far back as the mid to late 2000s, GREDA and other stakeholders proposed an aggressive plan of developing 170,000 housing units per year for the next decade plus to bridge this gap. Tis proposal has since been repeated severally at virtually every housing related fora. Yet not much progress has been made at bridging this defcit. If anything, it has widened. We think the blame must be laid largely at the feet of government for not creating the right enabling environment for a thriving estate development industry. Access to land is still a subject of great difculty for Developers; provision of ofsite infrastructure such as motorable roads, facilities for water and electricity supply, etc., are almost always left for Developers to shoulder. Tese challenges are in addition to the already mentioned credit crunch. While these bottlenecks are being addressed, we also propose an innovative approach.

Te theme for this year’s Awards is “Strengthening the Bedrock of Ghana Trough Green Development.” Sustainable Housing and Construction is the way forward in the industry. However, the thin –line between proftability and green development makes it tough for private developers to adopt the concept. Te solution lies in between; with a focus on green solutions, efectiveness, quality,

durability and pricing.

Sustainability embraces the environment and its long-term durability as a matter of concern for all humanity. Te Ghana Property Awards specifcally proposes that individuals and real estate developers are permitted through legislation to trade their excess solar energy. Solar Energy should not just be seen as a means of saving money on energy bills, but with the right framework, it can generate, store and trade energy, saving and earning income for home owners and investors alike.

Tis must be seen as a conduit for real estate investment and a way to speedily close the gap in the country’s housing defcit. In a traditional energy market, electricity is generated by large power stations, sold to retailers via a wholesale market mechanism, and then sold to consumers. As new technologies progress, the development of a new and emerging distributed market that considers the role that prosumers (producer-consumer) can play as energy generators and providers of grid services, is emerging.

Tis means a residence with solar panels could be trading its excess solar to one neighbour one minute, and then provide power to a diferent neighbour the next. Developments in highly sophisticated software and hardware technology mean that utilities could eventually set up a grid system that reacts automatically to these spikes or shortages. In this way, when the grid either needs more generation or load, it will automatically draw from a customer’s excess energy or sink more power into a customer’s storage system. We therefore urge the government to enact ambitious policies (such as enabling widespread peer-to-peer trading) that will attract investors to Ghana’s green economy. Tat way, investing in Real Estate becomes more attractive; not just on brick and mortar, but also, green energy.

For tonight, it’s time to raise the toast, honour those whom honour is due and celebrate our successes. We are not yet where we want to be, but we have really come far, and it’s worth celebrating. An innovation to this year’s Awards is a writing competition for members of the Ghana Real Estate Students Club on the theme for the year.

To all our partners, sponsors and supporters, we can’t thank you enough. To the Ministry of Works and Housing, we truly appreciate you for always standing by us and giving us your enormous support and counsel.