10 firms bid to complete Saglemi Housing Project – Oppong-Nkrumah

• Mr Oppong-Nkrumah

Ten private entities have put in bids to complete the Saglemi Affordable Housing Project, the Minister of Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, has disclosed.

Mr Oppong-Nkrumah, MP, Ofoase-Ayirebi, said the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government remained committed to ensuring that the facility was habitable.

Briefing journalists in Parliament, Accra, yesterday, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah said the investor, based on a report of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors, would be required to invest about US$100 million to complete the project.

“A couple of months ago, we issued a request for proposals and about 10 companies, international and local, have expressed interest, picked up forms and have been taken to the site to have the opportunity to inspect the work that is left to do.

“According to the work plan that we have put together, on the 8th of July, we expect to receive all the bids, and hand over the bids to an independent bid evaluation team which will give us an evaluation report and based on that, government will proceed to select one of the bidders.

“When that selection is done, we’ll get the necessary cabinet approvals, sign the contract and hand over Saglemi to (the would-be) entity to complete and operationalise the project,” he said.

The winner of the bid, he clarified, could be a single entity or a consortium of entities to complete the three major components of work – water, electricity and sewage – on the 1,506 housing units.

Mr Oppong-Nkrumah said the technical and financial capabilities of the would-be investor would be top of the selection criteria to ensure that work was done.

“We are looking for entities with technical and financial capacity to complete the project. So if you look at the proposal for request which was issued, about 70 per cent of the weight is on the financial capability and 30 per cent is on technical competency.”

He assured that the process would be conducted in “a free, fair and transparent manner” in line with the procurement laws of the country.

“We are going through an open and transparent process to get a developer to complete the Saglemi project. We are clear in our minds that we are doing everything above board and in accordance with the law and we are expectant that whoever is putting in a bid is going to do same and in the end, it should be able to stand the scrutiny of time.

“We have committed that every single bid that we are receiving will be published. We will publish the evaluation report so that Ghanaians see for themselves how the various bids were evaluated. We’ll publish the decision document and publish the final contract so everything is being done above board,” he said.

He added that government was also looking to bring to life work on the affordable housing project in Koforidua initiated by former President John Agyekum Kufuor.

In that regard, the State Housing Company, had been instructed to go through the process to select an investor and to reaward that project on contract for completion, Mr Oppong-Nkrumah said.

He said the Tema Development Corporation, having built 1000 housing units across three phases, the fourth phase is set to take off.

BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI