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Many industry experts in the nation have attributed this increase to the Coronavirus pandemic that has hit the whole world. According to stakeholders, the prices of building materials on the local market are responding to the spike being experienced in the international market. 

A ton of Iron Rod that was previously sold at GH¢4,000 is now being sold at GH¢5,380. When it comes to cement, a bag that was being sold at GH¢38 is now sold at GH¢41. During an interview with Accra-based Citi News monitored by GhanaWeb, Samuel Amegayibor, the Executive Secretay of the Ghana Real Estates Developers Association (GREDA), talked about some factors that have led to the price increase. 

“There has been a price hike because of certain challenges industry players are facing in importing the major materials that are used to produce cement called the clinker. We don’t have it here; it is a very small quantity that we are able to get locally. Clinker is mainly imported, and they are telling us that some of the sources of the clinker have either closed down, and then generally, the international market price has gone up and also the cost of shipping the clinker in has also gone up,” he said.

He continued to add, “We were doing a project where I sent my boys to go and buy iron, they buy the iron rod this week, and we run shortages, and we go back the next week and the price that we paid for this week has changed, it has gone up by some margin, either 5% or 10%.”

Mr Samuel also urged contractors not to halt building projects as the likelihood of the prices going back down is not foreseeable in the near future. 

Photo: Housing Development in Accra, Ghana (Dianearbis | Dreamstime)

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