Saglemi Housing Project to become expensive if private sector takes over – Greda

Executive Secretary of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), Samuel Amegayibor, says the sale of the Saglemi Housing Project to a private individual, will only lead to the rising cost of housing units upon completion.

He explained that, the estimated cost for completing the project is quite high, and will make the project nowhere near affordable if a private developer takes over.

The Saglemi Affordable Housing Project was initiated in 2012 for the delivery of 5,000 housing units at a total cost of US$200,000,000.00 under an Engineering-Procurement-Contracting (EPC) Agreement with Messrs Construtora OAS Ghana Limited.

The housing units were targeted at providing homes to public sector workers and young graduates, who would have made monthly installments to pay for their housing units.

Speaking about the selling price per unit should the project be bought and competed by a private developer, he told Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, “If the project is going to be sold to a private developer, and looking at the cost involved to complete the project, I’ll say it’ll be nowhere near affordable when completed.”

The Saglemi Housing Project is yet to be connected to electricity and water sources, this alone the developer argues will cost a fortune. A cost to be borne by the buyer in the long run. With these components and others, he reiterated the expensive nature of housing units if completed by a private developer.

The government is exploring the possibility of selling the Saglemi Housing Project, covering 1,506 housing units, to a private developer.

According to the Minister for Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye, the government has already expended approximately US$196 million on the project and does not intend to spend additional tax-payers money towards its completion.

He added that proceeds from the sale will be reinvested by the state into other affordable housing projects.

“At the same time, a technical assessment report by the Ghana Institution of Surveyors in September 2020, valued the total cost of works on-site at US$64,982,900.74,” Mr Asenso-Boakye said.

By; Joel Sanco