The Saglemi housing project has been one of the most discussed issues in the country recently. The project which was established by the NDC government in 2012, is now at the verge of being sold off to private personnel by the current government, and the minority caucus wants the government to discard its plans of selling the abandoned project.
The facility was meant to be a 5000 residential facility, built to ease the accommodation difficulties in the country. Unfortunately, the project has been abandoned, and there are no signs of completion, hence the government’s decision to sell it to a private developer. The minority is however taking measures to ensure that, the government does not sell off the project.
According to Mr. Vincent Oppong Mensah, Minority Spokesperson for Works and Housing, there was an inspection at the building on the 22nd of November 2022, after six years of abandonment. He stated that they were against government’s decision to sell the project because they think government should be able to raise money to complete the project.
Mr. Oppong Mensah spoke very highly of the roads in the area where the facility is situated, saying that, these roads could not be compared to any of the roads in any settlement in the country.
“All these roads should have been provided by the government of Ghana, and because the government of Ghana could not provide the funding, the contractor constructed all these roads… Government did not do that, so part of the loan was used to construct all these things.”
Vincent Oppong Mensah
Mr. Oppong disclosed that government did not add the contractors of this project to the tax exemption, therefore the government owes the contractors some amount of money, and if they had paid all this money, part of the project would not have been sold.
“We could have constructed additional structures. You know, the entire project was structured in phases. Once we complete the first phase, we dispose it, we get the money back we reinvest so that the people will be able to get the 5,000 housing.”
Vincent Oppong Mensah
The Saglemi Project- Home To Burglars and Thieves
The Saglemi housing project according to a report by a news agency is currently inhabitable and the entire project has been completely abandoned and become prone to burglars who take the opportunity to steal items from the uncompleted facility.
According to the report, some windows, doors electrical cables and burglar proofs have been stolen by these unidentified persons, and it is going to take a good sum of money to renovate the buildings and make them habitable again. The report also stated that, the surroundings around the facility have become overgrown with bushes and is now home to rodents and other dangerous animals.
There was no electricity in the buildings as well, because all cords and cables and other important components that were supposed to light up the building were all gone. The minority MPs present at the inspection expressed their disappointment in the government for abandoning the project.
The project was established to manage the housing problems in the country, as many Ghanaians do not have better places to call their homes. Now that the project has been abandoned, the minority is calling upon the government to fix the issue instead of selling it out to private investors.
Some members of the minority have raised accusations, saying that this might be an organized crime where some people have deliberately abandoned the facility in this state, in order to sell it at cheap prices to friends.
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