$1.5b Ghana’s housing project kicks off

A massive housing project to provide an initial 30,000 units for the country’s security agencies kicked off with a sod-cutting ceremony performed by President John Evans Atta Mills at the Tesano Police Depot in Accra on January 27, 2011.

The public-private partnership between the government of Ghana and STX Engineering and Construction Company of Korea involves $1.5 billion and is aimed at providing decent accommodation for more than 70 per cent of Ghanaians who cannot afford to buy or build their own houses.

Performing the sod-cutting at the Police Depot, Presi­dent Atta Mills used the occasion to assure workers that their well-being was at the heart of his governance agenda.

He said the project was, an integral part of the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC’s) 2008 manifesto and commitment to expand infrastructure, stressing that its success­ful implementation would be a vindication of “our social democratic tenets, as well as our commitment to build a better Ghana”.

“We are taking a very important first step today and when, in five years, we have been able to complete the 200,000 housing units, it will be a significant milestone in our over half a century of nationhood,” the President said.

He said it was projected that the 200,000-unit housing project would create more than 600,000 direct jobs and more than 20,000 indirect employment opportunities countrywide, in line with the government’s promise to create jobs for the people.

President Mills expressed the government’s determina­tion to ensure that local component featured heavily in the project to allow Ghanaian individuals and corporate entities to be properly positioned to benefit directly from the project that was set to inject sufficient liquidity into the economy.

He, however, warned against shoddy work, adding, “We are not building houses just for the sake of building; we are building houses that will stand the test of time.”

“This is not about scoring cheap political points; it is about providing acceptable and durable accommodation for the hardworking Ghanaian. The Ghanaian taxpayer is working too hard and we dare not abuse and waste the nation’s scarce resources,” he stressed.

The President said the housing project would help eliminate the unacceptable spectacle of men and women in uniform keeping their fridges and other property on their porch­es, adding, “In this action year, today’s action speaks vol­umes about the government’s resolve to reduce the housing deficit and give decent accommodation to Ghanaian workers.”

President Mills, said the government’s partnership with STX Engineering Construction Ghana Ltd constituted the strongest and boldest attempt to comprehensively solve Ghana’s housing deficit since independence.

The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing Mr Alban Bagbin, described the occasion as a milestone in the nation’s march towards the provision of safe, decent and world class living condition for the people.

He lauded President Mills’s leadership role, and vision which, he said, had brought the project into fruition, under­scoring the fact that “it has taken careful planning from members of the project management team and all stake­holders to bring the project to fruition”.

“Today, the Mills-led NDC government is recording positive history. Our critics have spoken and we have taken note of their fears. But believe me when I say history will prove us right in the fulness of time,” he stressed.

The Korean Minister of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, Mr Chung Jong Hwan, described Ghana as the most peaceful political part of Africa, hence the decision to invest in the country.

The Chairman of STX Korea, Mr Lee Hee Beom, expressed his appreciation to the security services for their collaboration which ensured the fruitful start of the project.

He gave the assurance that his outfit would share its knowledge and expertise with its Ghanaian counterparts to ensure an enduring relationship.

Source: Daily Graphic