Saglemi Housing Project: Government promises transparency in divestiture
The Government has assured the public of its commitment to transparency and increased diligence as it opens the door for private sector takeover of the Saglemi Housing Project.
In a move to finally address the long-stalled Saglemi Housing Project, the government has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP), inviting private sector participation in its redevelopment.
This initiative marks a significant shift in strategy, aiming to leverage private expertise and resources to complete the project and contribute to bridging Ghana’s housing deficit.
The Saglemi Housing project has been marred by allegations of corruption, with former Works and Housing Minister, Collins Dauda currently on trial. He has denied any wrongdoing, just as the erstwhile administration that birthed the project.
Despite the investment of over $200 million in the Saglemi Housing project, there have been issues of vandalism and theft of various fittings such as burglar-proof materials, plumbing works and metal coverings on culverts.
Works and Housing Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah in an interview with JoyNews’ Elton Brobbey said that the government has no intention of spending extra money on the project, the reason private sector participation is being courted to participate in its redevelopment.
“The dynamics have not necessarily changed. It’s a source of funding that is changing now and our objective is to be able to finish this and make it available. This is also to develop a settlement on its own. So there are questions on where is the school, where is the hospital, where is the commercial centre?
“Community and social responsibility, technical and managerial ability as well as ethical business practices – all come together as part of the eligibility criteria of who qualifies to put in a bid, local and or international.”
He said a transparency policy associated with the entire process has been published to show the government’s commitment, adding that the transparency policy talks about all the disclosure of information that will be made available.
“It talks about the fact that we have an open and competitive bidding process. For example, nobody is going to get an opportunity to put in a bid before the other. All the bids will be received on the same day and then at the end of that day, at that 5pm close, all the bids will be opened transparently. So we have clarity on what everybody has brought to the table.
“We have also committed in our transparency policy that when this transaction is done, in consonance with the pro-active disclosure clause of the Right to Information Act, we will publish all the bids that were received, the evaluation report of the independent evaluation panel, we will publish the decision memo that the end based on all of these, this is the company that is selected as the successful bidder, we will publish that decision memo and we will also publish the final agreement that is entered into with the successful bidder,” Mr Nkrumah said.