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The government is considering selling the Saglemi Housing Project at its current value to a private sector entity to complete and sell to the public at no further cost to the state.
The sale will cover all the 1,506 housing units that have been constructed and at various stages of completion.
Minister for Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye disclosed this at the Minister’s Press Briefing on Sunday, November 13 to update Ghanaians on the performance of the Ministry.
Proceeds that will come to the state from the sale, he said, will be reinvested into Affordable Housing projects.
The Saglemi Affordable Housing Project was initiated in 2012 for the delivery of 5,000 housing units at a total cost of US$200,000,000.00 under an Engineering-Procurement-Contracting (EPC) Agreement with Messrs Construtora OAS Ghana Limited.
By the end of the stipulated completion date, however, the original contract of the project had been amended three times, with the project scope reducing from the initial 5,000 housing units to 1,506 housing units, although US$195,854,969.52 representing 98% of the project funds had been expended.
That notwithstanding, the 1506 housing units were at various stages of completion.
Incidentally, none of these 1506 housing units was habitable because the project currently lacks basic amenities, such as water and electricity, and other related amenities.
A technical assessment report by the Ghana Institution of Surveyors in September 2020, valued the total cost of works on-site at US$64,982,900.74.
There is even an ongoing criminal prosecution at the High Court to determine the discrepancies with the funds expended on the project, vis-à-vis the valued cost of works and original project scope.
According to the Minister, in pursuant to calls for the completion and habitation of the Saglemi Housing project and to forestall further deterioration, the Ministry has been actively engaging Cabinet, the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the Office of the Attorney-General and the Ministry of Justice.
He said, “It is worth mentioning that throughout these engagements, it was evidenced that regardless of the options government takes, the government will have to provide additional financing to the tune of approximately US$46 million to provide off-site infrastructure, that is, water, electricity, and storm drain, to make the housing units habitable.”
“Additionally, there is the need to invest approximately US$68 million to complete the buildings, and other essential on-site infrastructure works.”
“What makes the Saglemi Housing Project even more complicated is that Government has already expended approximately US$196 million, and upon further consideration, government does not intend to expend additional tax-payers money towards the completion of the project,” he added.
Government, he said, therefore arrived at the decision to sell after a painstaking period of assessment, verification and consultation.
