Search
SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Shelter is one of the basic needs; it is a place that protect humans from the harmful element, keep humans warm and safe. The component of social infrastructure that satisfies this need is housing. Housing is described as the dwelling unit and the infrastructural services that make a dwelling unit a home for households whiles a house is defined as the dwelling unit, the physical shed or a structure.

   Housing Stock


Studies shows that there are 16,919 occupied dwelling units in the Municipality. This number constitutes less than half percent (0.3%) of the national total (5,467,054) and less than two percent (1.5%) of the regional total (1,126,205).

More than half (59.6%) of occupied dwelling units in the Municipality are compound houses. Separate houses constitute the next highest (25.8 %) percentage of occupied dwelling units.

With the remaining occupied dwelling units, it is only Flat/Apartment (6.2%) that has a proportion more than five percent.

In male headed households, 57.4 percent dwell in compound houses. For this same type of dwelling unit, the proportion is 62.9 percent for female headed households. Separate housing units are the next dominant occupied dwelling unit for households headed by males and females with the proportions of 27.5 percent and 23.2 percent respectively.

With urban-rural localities, the trend is not different; the majority of occupied dwelling units in both localities are compound houses. In urban localities, 65.1 percent of all dwelling units are compound houses and the proportion in rural localities is 46.8 percent.

House ownership Status

In the Municipality, 39.4 percent of dwelling units are owned by household member. This is followed by ownership by other private individual (32.3%) and ownership by relative not a household member (23.2%).

In male headed households, 37.9 percent of dwelling units are owned by household member. Ownership by household member for female households is 41.7 percent. Ownership of dwelling units by other private individual for male headed households and female headed households are 34.6 percent and 29.0 percent respectively.

In urban localities, ownership by other private individual is 36.5 percent and ownership by household member is 34.7 percent. In the rural localities, ownership by household member is 50.4 percent and ownership by other private individual constitutes 22.5 percent.

Construction Materials

Dwelling units are constructed with various materials. This section discusses various construction materials for outer walls, floors and roofing of dwelling units.

Main materials for the construction of outer walls of dwelling units are summarized in the table below. From the table the number of dwelling units (both occupied and unoccupied) is 17,513. Cement block/concrete (79.0%) is the commonest material for construction of outer walls of dwelling unit in the Municipality. Mud brick/earth is the next most used material for outer walls of dwellings with a proportion of 15.1 percent.

In both urban and rural localities, the predominantly used material for outer walls is cement block/concrete. The proportion for urban localities is 85.4 percent and that of the rural localities is 65.0 percent. The proportion of mud brick/earth in urban localities is less than nine percent (8.1%) and that of the rural localities is 30.5 percent.

Main material for roofing of dwelling unit

There use of metal sheet as a roofing material in the Municipality is overwhelming. It constitutes 94.3 percent of roofing materials. All other materials used constitute less than six percent (5.6%).

This pattern observed is in no way different from what pertains to urban localities. In urban localities, metal sheets are 96.7 percent of roofing materials. In rural localities, metal sheets have the highest proportion (89.0%) with bamboo constituting a little over five percent (5.4%).

Table 1.3.7.6b provides information on the number of ‘sleeping rooms’ per household size. According to the table, 62.9 percent of total households in the Asante Akim Central Municipality live in a single room. The percentage is less than one for households that occupy seven or more rooms. Thus the overall pattern is that, as the number of rooms’ increase the percentage of households diminishes.

The table further shows that as household size increases, corresponding proportions of single room households decreases. Thus for instance, whilst there are as high as 93.4 percent of single person households, there are 10.9 percent of households, with the size 10 persons and over, living in a single room.

Energy

Access to electricity is another component of housing amenities that plays a significant role in households’ day-to-day activities. It is used for powering domestic appliances for cooking, storage and entertainment, lighting systems and ironing. Information captured on electricity by the 2010 census shows that majority of the households in the municipality have access to this housing amenity. Nevertheless, the supply of electricity in the municipality has always lagged behind demand leading to frequent power cuts.  
Statistics available indicates that majority of residents (71.5%) have access to electricity in their homes, with a few residents (0.4%) relying on diesel powered generators. Kerosene lamp (10.4%), is also another major source lighting for some residents in the municipality. Furthermore, battery-powered flashlights/torches are used widely by most residents (16.7%).        
Despite several interventions by government and non-governmental organisations to protect our forests and reduce pollution, majority of residents in the Asante Akim Central Municipality, continue to use firewood (38.7%) and charcoal (36.1%) as major source of energy for cooking. Nevertheless, an appreciable number of residents rely on other efficient energy sources such as gas (15.6%), electricity (0.3%) and kerosene (0.4%). This phenomenon is not surprising, considering that, about 325 of residents live in rural areas, where there is difficulty in accessing alternative sources of energy for cooking, such as gas, kerosene and electricity.

Surface Accessibilities

Services are provided within a geographic setting to serve a given threshold population. Physical accessibility studies have been undertaken to determine areas that are easily accessible to facilities and services within the municipality that are not necessarily in their localities. Four services and facilities have been considered. These are:

Health Hospital / Health Centre

Education 2nd Cycle Institution

Banking Rural Banks

Agriculture Agric extension Service

In assessing physical access to facilities and services, various roads in the Municipality were classified and defined according to the conditions and frequency of transport on the road. Four main types of roads were identified in the Municipality. These are:
Average speed on the various classes of roads considering waiting times are as follows:

1st Class Road (68.6km/hr)

2nd Class Road (40km/hr)

3rd Class Road (13km/hr)

4th Class Road (7.5km/hr)

 

 

 

 

 

 


Date Created : 11/20/2017 3:08:22 AM