The Ghana Real Estates Developers Association (GREDA), has called for a swift passage of the Construction Development Authority Bill.
The bill has been at the consideration stage in Parliament since 2018. According to the Chief Executive Director of the Association, Mr. Samuel Amegayibor, the bill when passed will regularize the activities of the industry.
“Because there is no apex supervisory body, the individual associations and business associations are doing their best to work with their membership and as you may be aware, the constitution makes it clear that there is no compulsory association membership, such that there’s the need for a council.
“And you realize also that councils can manage the affairs of the professionals, but it is not easy for them to work with businesses and so there’s that difficulty on how to get everybody on board. So the industry will need a regulator, it will need a regulator for so any reasons”.
Mr. Amegayibor noted that the disadvantages of the bill pales in comparison to the numerous benefits it will afford the construction community.
“A few people are arguing that it is going to increase bureaucracies in the way we do businesses, but I beg to differ. Because if you realize that if there is sanity anywhere and there is orderliness, there’s so many things you benefit from it, and four major benefits that I personally think that a regulator will bring to the construction industry will be to safeguard the interest of would-be owners who are interested in acquiring any form of infrastructure. So where I belong to the sector housing for example, if there is a regulator, it will protect the interests of homeowners in particular.
“Then it also assists in transparency, when we all know what goes into the industry, who plays what, whose responsibility is what, when you have a given grievance you know somewhere you can go and seek redress from, it brings some kind of transparency. And then when there’s transparency and that protection of interest, then you can talk about attracting investment into the sector as well, so that when people want to put their money into the sector, they are informed and are guided by the principles that pertain in that industry, and so when they’re putting in any kind of investment, the confidence level is higher”.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry is also championing the Construction Industry Development Authority, (CIDA) Bill.
Cherry Emmanuel Awusanya, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry, in an interview said there is the need for the Bill to be passed to bring sanity to the sector.
“The bill is at the consideration stage on the table of cabinet. We have been asked to present a concept paper so that CIDA can come in to see how best we can mobilize the industry, see how best we can build the capacity of industry players and see how best we can have an equipment and financial base to that effect. There is a gamut of issues we want to regulate in the industry” he explained.
