Minister of Works and Housing Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said that completing the Saglemi project is important in addressing Ghana’s 1.8 million housing deficit.
He made this pronouncement after the Ministry received five bids for the resumption of works on the long-stalled Saglemi Housing Project on Monday, July 8.
This marks a significant step towards completing the project, Mr Oppong Nkrumah said.
The bids were received from:
- Afro Arab Properties Ltd
- Quarm-LMI Consortium
- Dredge Masters-Titanium
- Broll Ghana Ltd
- Masiltin Group
“We are committed to transparency and fairness in the selection process, with the Public Procurement Authority assisting in choosing an independent evaluation entity. The successful developer will be tasked with completing 1,506 units and essential infrastructure. Completing the Saglemi project is vital for addressing Ghana’s 1.8 million housing deficit. Thank you to all stakeholders for their dedication and service,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah who is also lawmaker for Ofoase Ayirebi lawmaker said.
The Saglemi housing units project was started by the John Mahama-led government in 2012. A loan of $200 million was secured to construct an initial 5,000 affordable housing units to be sold to citizens but as of 2017, 1,506 units were built but not completed.
The projects stalled after the NPP government took over, citing legal issues. Government has now resolved to complete the project and in April this year, a request for proposal was made inviting private sector participation.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah said “We have already requested of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to help us to select an independent evaluation entity and I do understand that four organisations are pre- qualified by the PPA out of which we will select one.
We will select one of these accounting firms by close of business on Wednesday and we will hand over all of these bids to the independent evaluation entity, so that they do the evaluation and submit to us the evaluation report,’’ Mr Oppong Nkrumah explained.
He stressed that the Ministry is working with the Public Procurement Authority to ensure that the process is transparent.
“We are committed as a Ministry in accordance with our transparency policy in transactions of this nature and in accordance with the proactive disclosure sections of the Right to Information Act…and we will publish online all of these bids we have received, and we will also publish the evaluation report that comes. So that every Ghanaian knows how these bids were evaluated,” he assured.
The Minister noted that the housing units currently do not have electricity, water and sewage system but emphasized government’s commitment to seeing to it that they are redeveloped and handed over for use.
