The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Hon Alban Bagbin, has stated that the Ghana Armed Forces would benefit from ten thousand housing units to solve it’s accommodation deficiency if the STX housing project is completed on schedule.
He said government took the initiative when it was realised that the security agencies in the country were confronted with acute accommodation challenges. He said under the project, thirty thousand housing units are expected to be constructed for the security agencies across the country.
Hon Bagbin was addressing a cross-section of officers, men and women of the Ghana Armed Forces at Burma Camp as part of an outreach programme to explain the STX housing project in detail to the military personnel.
Hon. Bagbin said the importance of his visit was to help all those who were going to benefit from the project to appreciate and support what his ministry was bring to their doorsteps.
He therefore appealed for the cooperation of and the support of the Ghana Armed Forces to ensure the smooth take-off of the project.
The Minister noted that the idea of the government choosing STX was to ensure that no individual spent more than 30 percent of his pay on accommodation for rentals.
He took time to present the full details of the STX deal and recommended the project as the best Ghana could every have had considering the present circumstances globally.
He reiterated that the good thing about the housing project was that the designs of the buildings were made to suit the soldiers’ specifications.
Explaining some of the challenges with regards to the acquisition of lands, Mr. Bagbin said that he know some of the already existing structures on lands were going to be affected but assured the owners to re-settle and co-operate with contractors to ensure a successful completion of the project.
The Minister for Defence, Lt. Gen Joseph Henry Smith, on his part, stressed that the accommodation problems of the Ghana Armed forces required urgent interventions since the military has always been grappling with challenges of accommodation.
He emphasised that the STX deal would go a long way to “offset this huge burden”.
Lt. Gen Smith stressed that government’s effort to find a lasting solution to the accommodation problems was because the sterling performance of the military had won the admiration of the President. He therefore urged the soldiers to continue to sacrifice for the nation.
The Chief of the Defence Staff, Lt Gen. Peter Augustine Blay, said the Ghana Armed Forces accepted the STX housing project as it is meant to ease their accommodation problems and improve the life of soldiers. He assured the Works and Housing Minister that the programme will take off in all the garrisons.
At the durbar were Ghanaian and Korean representatives of STX, including the CEO and Chief Operation Officer, Service Chiefs and the Chief Directors of the Ministries of Defence and Water Resources, Works and Housing, among others
