Ghanaian delegation in UAE to fine tune $10 billion housing project

From Nana Kodjo Jehu-Appiah, GNA special correspondent, Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi, May 21, GNA - Mr Cletus Avoka, Majority Leader in Parliament, on Thursday led a delegation to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to facilitate parliamentary approval of a $10-billion housing project with STX, a South Korean Construction and Engineering firm.

The 10-member parliamentary team visited the 65-block staff apartment, built in 20 months by STX at the cost of 181,590,410 dollars in Abu Dhabi, capital of UAE as part of the assessment of the corporate entity's ability to deliver to meet the expectation of Ghanaians.

Vice President Mahama led a bi-partisan delegation to Seoul in March this year to sign the Memorandum of Understanding with STX Group Chairman, Mr Kang Duk-soo, for the commencement of the project.

It involves the construction of 200,000 affordable estate units and 300 executive-type buildings over a five-year period.

The project will be located 45km east of Accra on 200 acres in the Tema Metropolis and will comprise one to four storey buildings. Phase one will provide 5,000 public housing units for the country's security agencies and 300 executive-type buildings for members of parliament.

Forty-five per cent of the of the buildings would be given to the government for sale, while the remaining 55 per cent would be offered for mortgage to the public by the Home Finance Company Bank.

The project will include schools and other social amenities. Phase two will roll out 13,000 public outstanding loan housing units built specifically for the middle class. This phase will also include sports facilities, commercial space and public well fare services. The third phase of the project will witness an additional 20,000 housing and other infrastructural facilities while the last phase will include an 18-hole golf course and multi-purpose sports centre. It aims at reducing by a fifth, the national housing deficit estimated at one million units.

The 14,071 capacity building in Abu Dhabi include an administration block, clinic, restaurant and a shopping mall, water pump and ground water tank and asphalt pavements.

Mr Avoka asked the contractors to consider the economic background of the people the project was meant for as well as disaster risk factors such as earthquakes and environmental impact assessment.

He stressed the need for the company to engage Ghanaian expertise, saying it was the vision of the government to use the platform to create more jobs.

Mr Avoka tasked STX to kick against outrageous designs and economic cost.

Mr Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, Minority Leader in Parliament, expressed the need for STX to manufacture its prefab and other construction materials locally in collaboration with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

Dr Anthony Osei Akoto, New Patriotic Party (NPP) Ranking Member for Finance asked STX to stick to the phasing out element of the project by delivering the housing units to the security agencies in the first component.

Mrs Cecilia Abena Dapaah, NPP Ranking Member, Housing Committee, suggested the need for water harvesting to be a part of the project as well as transfer of technology.

She said the South Koreans were noted for their hard work and must incorporate their work ethics in Ghana .

Mr Bernard Kwabena Asamoah, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of STX said the company would involve KNUST in the local designing of houses for the low and middle class. He said the company had on the drawing board plans to put up a constructional complex within eight to 10 months to manufacture building materials locally.

Mr Kim Jung, STX Project Manager, said the company completed the UAE project one month ahead of schedule and was able to save five per cent of the project cost. He said there was also no accident on site and labour agitation. STX, which has interests in heavy industry, construction, energy and ship building, had 23 billion dollars in assets by the second quarter of 2008. 21 May 10