The desire to ensure the continuation of the Saglemi Housing Project in the Ada West district of Greater Accra region is on track, as five companies have submitted bids for its redevelopment.
They are Afro Arab Properties Ltd, Quarm-LMI Consortium, Dredge Masters-Titanium, Broll Ghana Ltd. and Masiltin Group.
Notably, Quarm-LMI Consortium and Dredge Masters-Titanium have formed consortiums in order to tackle the project’s complexities, should they win the bid, which together with others, were received by the Ministry of Works and Housing in Accra yesterday.
The Request for Proposal (RFP) marks a significant step towards completing the project, which has been hit by delays and controversy since its inception.
Addressing journalists during the bid opening ceremony, Minister for Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah provided an overview of the project’s history and government’s efforts to bring it to completion.
“We have gone through the process that was started all the way from Minister Atta Akyea’s era. In April, as I mentioned, we issued the request for proposals and today, the 8th of July, 2024 which is the deadline, we have received five bids,” stated Minister Nkrumah.
The project, which began in 2012, was initially intended to build 5,000 homes in the Saglemi enclave, with a $200 million loan.
However, only 1,506 partially completed and uninhabitable units are currently available, with all of the $200 million being paid to the original contractors.
Efforts to resolve these issues have been ongoing since 2017. Under Minister Samuel Atta Akyea, the government started by valuing the work done and assessing what was needed to complete the project.
His successor, Minister Francis Asenso Boakye, continued this by seeking Cabinet approval to involve a private partner to invest an estimated $100 million to finish the project, followed by Minister Oppong Nkrumah’s strategy of issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) in April 2024 to invite bids to redevelop the units.
He gave the assurance that the Ministry of Works and Housing is committed to transparency and fairness in the selection process and the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) will assist in choosing an independent evaluation entity from a shortlist of four pre-qualified organizations: KPMG, Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC), Deloitte and Touche LLP and Ernst and Young.
This independent evaluation is part of the Ministry’s broader commitment to transparency, ensuring an impartial and thorough review of the bids.
This, the Minister emphasized the importance of completing the Saglemi Housing Project to address Ghana’s housing deficit.
The country currently has a housing deficit of 1.8 million units and delivers about 40,000 housing units a year, which is insufficient to close the gap. He highlighted the need to complete projects like Saglemi to prevent deterring future housing initiatives.
The coming weeks will be crucial as the bids are evaluated and a developer is selected. The chosen developer will be tasked not only with completing the 1,506 units but also with developing essential infrastructure such as electricity, water supply, proper sanitation and road networks.
The goal is to finally deliver habitable homes to Ghanaians and demonstrate that large-scale public housing projects can be successfully completed.
