FLASHBACK: Why abandoned Saglemi housing project should not be sold

Many Ghanaians have been against the sale of the Saglemi Housing project which is estimated at 5000 housing units to help reduce the country's over 1.8 million housing deficits.

Last year, the President noted that the government required $46 million to resurrect the project that had stalled for years.

A group called the Saglemi-Not-For-Sale Movement stood against the government's decision describing it as unfair.

Its convenor, Nana Otu-Darko, speaking to GhanaWeb Business in 2023, noted that it will be unfair to sell the project to a private entity.

According to him, this is a ploy by the government to sell the country's long-term assets.

Despite the incessant calls against the move, the Minister for Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah noted in September this year that, the government is on the verge of finalising negotiations to revive the stalled Saglemi Housing units, with the project set to be handed over to a private developer for redevelopment.

“Cabinet has directed the Ministry of Works and Housing to explore the possibility of selling the partially completed Saglemi Housing Project to a private sector entity to complete and sell the units without further government investment, and negotiations will be finalized within the next 14 days,” he said at a press conference on September 30, 2024.

He further explained that under the approved framework, the current value of work done at Saglemi will be treated as government equity in the project, while the completion cost will be treated as the equity of the selected partner in a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to be established for the project’s completion.

On October 17, 2024, the government announced that the project had been handed over to a private developer, Quarm-LMI.

Watch the conversation with the convenor for Saglemi-Not-for-Sale in 2023 below



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