Minister of Works and Housing, Kenneth Gilbert Adjei, has urged stronger collaboration among regulatory bodies to tackle encroachment on quarry and sand-winning sites, warning of dire consequences for Ghana’s construction and housing sectors.
He called on the Minerals Commission, Lands Commission, and Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to work with his Ministry to map, zone, and safeguard key quarry areas, while ensuring strict enforcement of regulations.
Mr. Adjei said persistent encroachment was inflating construction costs and worsening Ghana’s housing affordability crisis.
Transporting aggregates now costs up to 23 percent more, as contractors haul materials from quarries more than 40 kilometers away from project sites.
“The sprawl onto prime quarry and sand-winning areas is not just an inconvenience, it is a crisis with far-reaching consequences,” he warned. “It disrupts schedules, inflates budgets, increases risks, and erodes investor confidence.”
He stressed that the government would not allow the menace to continue, given its priority to bridge the housing deficit and deliver resilient infrastructure.
He also called for innovation in sustainable alternatives, such as eco-friendly materials, and closer collaboration with the private sector.
“The task ahead demands boldness, unity, and urgency,” Mr. Adjei said. “Only through strong partnerships between government, regulators, local authorities, industry players, and communities can we protect resources, reduce costs, and restore efficiency.”
At the forum, the Executive Chairman of the Commercial Quarry Operators Association, Dr. Ebenezer Mireku, noted that nearly all quarries in the south up to Kumasi, Volta, Eastern, Greater Accra, Western, Central, and Ashanti Regions had been encroached.
He cautioned that communities settling dangerously close to quarry sites were at risk. “Our operations encapsulate hazard that’s why the law requires a 500-meter buffer. But this is no longer respected, and if encroachment persists, operators will have to shut down,” Dr. Mireku said.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry (GHCCI), Emmanuel Cherry, who convened the forum, stressed that encroachment had become a major disincentive to investors and could push construction and housing costs even higher.
The cross-sectoral forum brought together stakeholders from the Ministry of Works and Housing, Lands Commission, Electricity Company of Ghana, Minerals Commission, NADMO, and quarry operators.
They unanimously called for urgent collaboration to protect Ghana’s construction sector from a looming cost crisis.
