First phase of $14m BNI housing project completed

Work on a 168 apartment housing project meant for officials of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) at Sakumono in Accra, is progressing steadily with 72 apartments so far completed and ready for occupation.

The completed apartments form the first phase of a $14 million project started six months ago. It was pre-financed by Amandi Group, a construction firm and would be occupied by junior officers of the BNI.

Work on the second phase, which would be three-bedroom apartments, is due to commence Thursday and would be allocated to senior staff of the BNI upon completion.

It is scheduled to be completed in the next 14 months.

The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr E.T. Mensah, who toured the project site Wednesday, expressed satisfaction with the level of work and debunked assertions that the government since assuming office, had not initiated any housing project.

Mr Mensah said following the botched STX Housing Project, the government sought applications from companies to bid for the construction of housing and the Amandi Group won the bid to construct the BNI Housing Project which it pre-financed.

Mr Mensah said the focus of the ministry was to encourage a housing mortgage for workers for purposes of affordability.

The Chief Engineer of the project, Mr David Ben Agun, who conducted the minister round the project site, said the company would work diligently to complete the work on schedule.

Mr Mensah also paid a working visit to the Borteyman housing project which was started by the previous administration. He said the government was working hard to ensure its completion.

The housing units had been allocated to military personnel, nurses and members of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG)

Currently, the State Housing Company (SHC) has been brought on board to complete five blocks of the housing units.

The General Manager (Operations) of the SHC, Mr Kwabena Sabby, gave the assurance that with materials now available, the blocks would be ready for occupation in four weeks.

Earlier on Mr Mensah had visited the Job 600 edifice which is now about 90 per cent complete.

August this year was set for the project to have been completed and inaugurated but the Resident Engineer, Mr Ekow Bentsi-Echill, and now puts the completion date at February 2013.

When completed, the edifice would provide about 252 offices for the Members of Parliament (MPs) instead of the original 200 offices and with enhanced provisions for the leadership of the House.

Provision has also been made for research assistants/secretaries, among others.

The total cost of the project is $62.8 million but due to expansion in the scope of works, it became necessary to source an additional $39 million to complete it.

The resident engineer explained that the project to house MPs begun 15 years ago and that the new initiative which is being executed by China State Hualong Construction Company to serve as offices for Parliamentarians, started one-and-a-half years ago.

Mr Mensah expressed satisfaction with the progress of work even though for him, completion of the project was long overdue.

He said the contractors and the government had together set up a road map for meeting a time table for completion.

Source: Daily Graphic