Saglemi affordable housing project key to bridging Ghana's housing deficit - Asenso-Boakye

Francis Asenso-Boakye, the Minister for Works and Housing, has once again reiterated his commitment to complete the 1502 units of affordable housing at Saglemi, stressing that it is key to solving Ghana's housing deficit.

The Saglemi Affordable Housing Project has been on hold for years while the country’s housing deficit continues to widen.

But the new minister has stated that the government will soon engage with the investors and engineers on the project before it arrives at a completion date for the project.

He made this known after inspecting the housing units to familiarize himself with the situation on the grounds, reports citinewsroom.com.

He stressed that the Saglemi housing project is a good idea but also admitted that the design and implementation not done right.

“A lot has been done but a lot more needs to be done. We have invested close to GHS200 million into this project and this is where we are. I believe the project was a great idea but the conception, the design, the implementation did not go well at all and that is why we have found ourselves in this situation. But I am committed to putting the past behind us and moving forward so that we can complete the project of over 1000 housing units,” he said.

He explained further that with the growing housing deficit in the country, it becomes imperative that they do something soon to solve it, and this project and its completion presents itself as one of the best opportunities.

“The current housing deficit is two million so if we are able to complete these housing units, it is a big step towards tackling the housing unit. I’m not a technical person so I don’t know the very details of it but my task is to find money and find a very innovative way of looking for resources to complete this project,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Director of Housing at the ministry, Theresa Tuffour, revealed that 1,339 out of 1,502 units have already been completed.

“Out of 1,502 they have completed 1,389. 386 are at various stages, 868 have been completed and if our infrastructure is provided, that is, light, water, and the sewage system is done, people can move in and occupy it. And then there are about 139 townhouses that have also been completed,” she said.

The Saglemi Affordable Housing Project was put on hold by the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government to allow it probe the financial arrangement around it after it was started by the John Dramani Mahama government.

Then minister for Works and Housing, Samuel Atta-Akyea, had invited the Attorney General to scrutinize the agreements in October 2018 after which it was disclosed that there were key contract documents were missing or had inconsistencies in them.