President John Dramani Mahama has announced that the first 700 housing units at the Saglemi Affordable Housing Project are expected to be completed and commissioned by March 2027, with 1,500 units targeted for completion by the end of 2027.
President Mahama made the announcement during a tour of the Saglemi housing project on August, as work continues to complete the residential community.
A project he started in his first administration but has become a pale shadow of itself.
It later became a subject of criminal justice inquest in the erstwhile New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration involving the Works and Housing Minister at the time.
The President highlighted some of the challenges encountered at the project after years of inactivity including the theft of electrical cables but assured that would not repeat itself.
He said prospective homeowners should be prepared to take advantage of the opportunity once the official registration process begins.
“As the developer said, 700 units by March next year we will be able to commission. And another 1,000, actually a total of 1,500 by end of next year, by December next year. This was a vision that was started by Professor Atta Mills. And I came and continued it. Unfortunately, when government changed hands, there were some issues, legal issues. And the new government said they wanted to investigate,” he said.
According to the President, “And so in the meantime, the project stalled. Now, the unfortunate thing that happened was, I mean, looters came in and stole everything. The cables, the wash basins, the baths, all the fittings, electric house, bulbs. They even took the telecom cables from underground and pulled them away and took them. And so it’s just left with an empty shell. And eventually, governments agreed that the private sector should partner to finish it.”
He explained that “It’s going to be a very conducive housing estate for occupation. The good thing is, if people don’t register fast enough, you see all these industries here, all the way to Tema, those in the industrial area, Dawa industrial area. They will snap up all the houses for their workers. But they are available for people who want to move with their families here. And so when the portal is open to register those who are interested in purchasing houses, I’m sure that many Ghanaian workers and other persons who want to live in a beautiful estate like this would register.
The president also touched on amenities that will be made available in the estate, “All the things that were said are going to happen because I visited the water treatment plants when I came to catch sod for the solar plants. The industrial park is just next door. And it has a whole water treatment plant, which produces more water than the industrial park needs. So some of the extra water is going to be supplied to this estate. And the rest of the extra water is actually going to be piped to the Tema industrial area in a collaboration with Ghana Water and Sewerage Company Limited.”
“So, there are very good things happening in this corridor. Happily, government is dualizing the road from here to Aflao. The first phase is being worked on. The second phase from Central University is just being awarded. And so you would have a fast road link. You also have, like you said, a rail link. The rail link will carry not only humans, but for the industries in the industrial park, their containers and other things from the Tema ports will come by the rail line. And so, this is going to be a very major industrial and residential corridor,” he added.
President Mahama further noted that, the project ties into the new city concept that Government has envisioned.
“Because the new city is just stretching up from here through Bundase, where the military firing range used to be, all the way to the Volta Lake. And so that is the concept of the new city. So, Saglemi fits into it very nicely. The Dawa Industrial Park fits into it very nicely. And I’ll just congratulate the partnership between the Water Resources, Works, and Housing Ministry and the private developer. It is my hope that we’ll congregate here after Christmas, just around the Easter, to commission the first set of houses.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of LMI Holdings, the property developer, Kojo Aduhene said critical infrastructure works are being undertaken across the estate.
“We’re doing all the underground cabling, clearing the weeds, and water will not be a problem because we’ve got a water plant ready in the Dawa Industrial Area and it’s enough to supply water for all the units,” Mr Aduhene said.
Mr Aduhene further disclosed that internet connectivity would also be available in all units.
