Minister for Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has announced that construction on the Saglemi Housing project, which has been stalled, will restart in November.
Originally launched by the previous NDC government, the $200 million project was halted after a value-for-money audit disclosed that only 1,506 housing units had been completed out of the planned 5,000.
However, after receiving new directives from the cabinet, Minister Oppong Nkrumah stated that discussions are currently taking place with two shortlisted companies to facilitate the government’s public-private partnership, enabling work to resume next month.
“Negotiations are currently ongoing, and we expect that in early November, work will resume after the new developer is signed up to go the site,” he said.
He made these comments at a ministerial press briefing on September 30.
The Minister stressed that the new arrangements do not mean the housing project is being sold.
“We reiterate that we are not selling these projects. We are working in the PPP [Public Private Partnership] framework to complete these projects.
The fact that the government of Ghana does not have money in the Treasury to advance for us to finish does not mean these projects should remain stalled,” he said.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah emphasised the urgency of completing the projects, noting that without action, the state’s significant investments would deteriorate.
To address this issue, he mentioned that the ministry has turned to a public-private Partnership, which is expected to facilitate the continuation of the projects.
“We can’t afford to wait for the government to allocate funds, and we certainly don’t want to see these projects fall into further disrepair. Collaborating with the private sector to secure funding is the most effective approach,” he explained.
He further added that the financing provided by private companies would be reimbursed once the projects are completed and operational.