The Vice President of Ghana Real Estate Developers Association [GREDA], Kwabena Nyarko is proposing the establishment of a Ghana Housing Authority to deal with the challenges facing the country’s housing sector. Ghana is said to currently have a housing deficit of about 1 million with the figure expected to double within a decade if immediate steps are not taken to remedy the situation. Speaking on Multi TV’s current affairs programme, PM: EXPRESS, the GREDA Vice President attributed the rise in housing deficit to government’s decision to move from providing housing for the public to becoming a facilitator of housing in the 1980’s. According to him, the lack of land banks for private real estate developers to easily access lands to develop properties has also contributed to the current housing deficit. He observed that the cumbersome process in acquiring land for development impedes efforts being made so far to reduce the high housing deficit. He noted that estate developers have to enter into unending negotiations with chiefs and other land owners before they are able to secure a parcel of land to develop their properties. Mr. Nyarko noted that there are good investments to be made in the housing sector which in turn will translate into growth since “service delivery is tied to addresses and without that, it becomes difficult for people to want to do business with you”. Commenting on some of the mistakes prospective land buyers make when buying lands, a Senior Lands Officer at the Lands Commission, Timothy Anyidoho, told show host Nii Arday Clegg that people acquire land often based on trust. He however explained that land acquisition begins with the first step of securing the site plan of the parcel of land and checking for the availability and ownership of it with the Lands Commission even before you consider purchasing it. He said this process minimizes the risk of being defrauded or running into land litigation. He noted that lands in the country have not been assimilated meaning no one person owns lands in the country adding that there are public lands including vested lands and other private lands with ownership ranging from individuals to family to stools. He was however quick to concede that the land registration process is also fraught with challenges, delays and frustrations, developments which often encourage people to take the quick way out. “Sometimes, the delays we have are from the people… Also in our registration process, we can have some challenges. The frustrations are only because the document itself has certain defects and therefore we need to help correct those defects before they come to be part of the public records”, he added. He thus urged the public to ensure that they do background checks on parcels of land they want to acquire with the Lands Commission to avert any conflict or litigation once they have started developing the land.