The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry (GhCCI), Emmanuel Cherry has warned that encroachment on quarry and sand-winning zones is worsening the cost of housing and road construction in Ghana.
Speaking at a cross-sectoral forum in Accra on Tuesday, 9th September 2025, which was convened following discussions at the Ghana Investment Trade Week in July, Cherry highlighted the role of landowners and developers in exacerbating the problem.
“The landowners themselves, seeing that the place is becoming very commercial and viable, what do they do? They start selling a portion of the land. By the time you realise, they’ve encroached all the place”, Cherry said.
He further added, “This becomes a serious challenge for quarry operations. You know that sand quarry has a security component because of blasting. There must be a 15-metre buffer zone, but today, in some areas, people are within 10 or 20 metres. If that happens, you cannot blast safely, as it endangers lives and properties within that enclave.”
Cherry also warned that these encroachments are feeding into higher costs.
“Materials are now becoming expensive. If materials become expensive, housing and road construction will also become more costly,” he noted.
Industry players at the forum called for a dedicated platform to address quarry land encroachments and urged stronger collaboration among ministries and agencies to protect Ghana’s construction sector from a looming cost crisis.
Ghana currently faces a housing deficit of 1.8 million units, with demand for affordable homes far outstripping supply.
The Ghana Statistical Service estimates that one in three urban residents’ lives in slum conditions, reflecting growing pressures from rapid urbanisation.
Rising construction costs, compounded by encroachment on quarry and sand-winning sites, risk worsening both the housing gap and the cost of critical infrastructure projects.
