4,200 housing units for Ghanaian public servants
A document has been laid on the table of Parliament for the provision of 4,200 housing units and associated infrastructure for the Public Services of Ghana.
The deal is an Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) loan agreement between the Government of Ghana, Barclays Bank (as co-ordinating Mandated Lead Arranger) and Her Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State for an amount of $170 million as well as a medium term loan facility from CAL Bank Limited and other local banks for $30 million for the co-financing of the design and construction of the buildings.
The paper was laid in Parliament last Friday by the Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Seth Tekper, and if approved the project would be undertaken by Italconstruct International Limited, a wholly Ghanaian owned real estate company.
Due diligence conducted on Italconstruct revealed that it is a company with a proven track record in providing affordable housing in Ghana and also the only company in Ghana with a panel production plant for the production of panels for the construction of affordable housing.
A probe into the details of the project as provided by the Ministry for Water Resources, Works and Housing showed that the prices provided by Italconstruct is the most competitive so far of all proposals received.
The cost of the 4,120 houses alone is estimated at $155.7 million given an average cost of $37,793 per unit, while the cost of associated infrastructure, including roads an pavements, drains, electricity, water, sewage systems, external works and street lights as well as supervision is estimated at $44.3 million.
According to a comparative cost analysis conducted by the Ministry for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Italconstruct’s prices were the most competitive.
For instance, while Italconstruct quoted $35,100 for a two bedroom apartment and $53,790 for a three bedroom unit, competitors like Snecou, Architectural and Engineering Services Limited and Tema Development Corporation quoted $46,200 and $58,300, $67,260 and $67,46 and $58,000 and $65,000 for two bedroom and three bedroom apartments respectively.
The State Housing Company and Greda Apartments quoted $64,000 and $86,000 and between $45,000 and $50,000 as well as between $55,000 and $60,000 for two and three bedroom apartments respectively.
According to the Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, as sighted in the joint Memorandum of Parliament, the prices quoted by Italconstruct had been demonstrated to be competitive and should, therefore, be given the go ahead to construct the 4,200 housing units.
It would be recalled that recently Italconstruct performed a sword cutting ceremony for the construction of 100 housing units in Dawhenya for workers of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority in conjunction with the HFC Bank, the mortgage financiers of the project.
The Supply Chain Manager of Italconstruct International Limited, Mr Andy Blankson,told the Daily Graphic that the company had been in the business for sometime now and had gained the necessary experience to deliver on its promises in terms of affordability, speed of construction and quality.
He noted that the deal with the government was started as far back as 2009 and it had taken quite a while for all the aspects of the project to be put in place.
Source: Daily Graphic