The Minority in Ghana’s Parliament is vehemently opposing moves by the government to partner with a private developer to fix the Saglemi Housing Project. According to Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister for Works and Housing, an estimated $100 million is required to make the place habitable.
During an inspection of the project site on Tuesday, Oppong Nkrumah disclosed plans to secure a private partner within five weeks. “…I gave instructions to the technical working group that within the next five weeks, it should go ahead with an international expression of interest that is designed to attract private developers who can come in and complete this project for us so that we can put it to use,” he said.
However, Vincent Oppong Asamoah, the Ranking Member on the Works and Housing Committee, has alleged that the government intends to offload the Saglemi Housing Project to its allies and cronies.
“The only thing is that they just want to reduce the price and then they will sell it to their cronies. They are saying, oh, we are bringing in partners here and at the end of it, it is their people that are going to come in. If you go out there, all state lands and every property is going for sale under the NPP administration. Every property, landed property, is going for sale. Let’s see the end of the NPP administration and we will see the rot.”
Initiated in 2012 during the tenure of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, the Saglemi housing project aimed to construct 5,000 housing units. However, the project has been embroiled in controversy due to allegations of fund misappropriation, leading to its halt.
Source: Citi Newsroom
