Spokesperson for the Ministry of works and housing, Manasseh Atta Boahene has disclosed that 10 companies, both local and international, have expressed interest in investing resources and technical expertise in completing and operationalizing the Saglemi Affordable Housing Project.
This comes after the Ministry of Works and Housing issued a Request for Proposals on the 17th of April 2024 to attract bids from across the world and to select strategic investor or consortium of investors to complete and operationalize the housing project.
Speaking on Movement in the Morning Show on Movement TV / Wontumi Radio, Mr. Boahene explained that the erstwhile NDC government borrowed $200 million to build 5,000 housing units.
However, they spent $196 million to construct 1506 housing units which are partially completed. The project lacks three major components to facilitate habitation, which are water, electricity and sewage works.
When the Ghana Institution of Surveyors did their assessment, they established that additional $100 million dollars was needed to complete and operationalize the 1506 housing units.
Cabinet took a decision that within the difficult financial constraint, government was not in a position to invest extra $100 million after $200 million was invested in the project, and that a private developer or a consortium of private developers be selected to complete and operationalize the Saglemi Affordable Housing Project.
The 10 investors who have expressed interest in the project have been taken to the project site to inspect and familiarize themselves with the scope of work to enable them to prepare their proposals which will be formally received by the Ministry of Works and Housing on the 8th of July 2024.
The bids which will be received on the 8th of July 2024 will be handed to an independent evaluation entity to assess the bids received and present an evaluation report to government to facilitate the selection of a developer or a consortium of developers.
Cabinet approval will be secured, and a contract will be signed between the government and the selected investor. The project will then be handed over to the developer to complete the Saglemi Affordable Housing Project.