The Minister of Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has announced significant progress in the government's efforts at completing the uncompleted Saglemi Affordable Housing projects.

In a recent update on the state of the housing project, he revealed that ten companies, both international and local, have expressed interests in taking over the project.

These companies, he indicated, have been actively engaged in the proposal process, which aims to find a private developer or a consortium of developers to invest in and operationalize the project.

Speaking to the press on June 19 in parliament, he said, "...we announced a process through which the government will select a private developer or a consortium of private developers to complete the uncompleted Saglemi Affordable Housing projects and operationalize it. Now, you recall that the government initially took a loan of about $200 million to build 5,000 housing units, 1,506 of which were partially completed, and that's what you often see at Saglemi Affordable Housing. Three major components were missing: water, electricity, and sewage works. When the Ghana Institute of Surveyors did their assessment, they said we needed about $100 million to complete these 1,506, and the government took a decision that within the difficult financial constraints, it's very difficult to find that extra $100 million after $200 million has been spent.

"So, the cabinet took a decision that we should select a private developer or consortium of private developers and let them make the investment so that we can operationalize it. And you are correct. A couple of months ago, we issued a request for proposals. To date, I am briefed that about 10 companies, international and local, have expressed interest, have picked up forms, have been taken to the project site, and they have had the opportunity to inspect what has been left there so far."

He also added that by July 8, the ministry will receive all the bids, which will be given to an independent evaluation entity.

"The necessary dilapidation reports, and they're putting together their proposals according to the webpage that we put together. By the 8th or on the 8th of July, we expect to formally receive all of the bids. We'll do it openly in front of all of you, and then we will hand over the bids that we've received to an independent evaluation entity which will give us an evaluation report. And then, based on that evaluation report, the government will proceed to select one of the bidders. It may be a single entity or a consortium of entities.

"And when that selection is done, we will get the necessary cabinet approvals, sign a contract with this person, and then hand over the entity to this entity or hand over Saglemi to this entity to complete and operationalize that project. So, that is where we are now. Currently, about 10 entities have expressed interest and are going through the processes. We expect to receive the updates on the 8th of July. We're also going through the process of selecting this independent evaluation organization," he added.



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