Police briefed on STX deal

Page 64: Daily Graphic, 18, 2010.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Alban Bagbin, today began an outreach programme to interact with the top brass of the Ghana Police Service to brief them on the implementation of the STX Housing Project for the security agencies.
Under the project, 30,000 housing units are expected to be constructed for the Police, Military, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana Prisons Service and other agencies with the Ghana Police Service expecting to benefit from 20,000 housing units.
Mr Bagbin is expected to the visit Burma Camp tomorrow.
Currently, 13,854 of the 23,840 police personnel are not accommodated with others being housed in workshops, canteens and other structures.
The Police Administration last year suspended the recruitment of personnel into the service due to the accommodation crisis facing the service.
Speaking at the forum with the leadership of the Ghana Police Service, Mr Bagbin said the essence of the interactions was to open up to all those who were going to benefit from the project to enable them to appreciate what was to come their way.
He, therefore, called for the co-operation and support of all stakeholders including chiefs and district assemblies to ensure the smooth take-off of the project next month when the sod was expected to be cut for construction work to begin.
He said the vision of the government was to ensure that no individual spent more than 30 per cent of his or her income on accommodation whether rental or owner-occupier system.
Mr Bagbin, whose presentation was met with applause from the personnel present, said Ghana’s housing deficit currently stood at more than one million with an annual delivery of only 40,000 of the 140,000 being provided.
He described the STX Housing Project as the largest and single most ambitious project and said it was an all-inclusive project with members of the minority in parliament forming part of delegations to discuss and review the deal with STX Korea.
He said the project would also lead to the establishment of major cement, steel and power plants in Ghana, which would create more than 40,000 jobs.
Mr Bagbin said the project, which would also bring about technology transfer, would be a launch pad for an integrated building and construction industry in Ghana.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, said the interest of the police in the project was evidenced by the presence of police personnel during the debate on the approval of the deal in Parliament.
He said the ambition of the Police Administration was to increase the strength of the personnel to 40,000 by 2014 and bring the police-civilian ratio closer to the United Nations approved ratio of 1:500.
He stressed that “with this project, there is the need for a corresponding increase in accommodation facilities to house the additional personnel”.
Mr Quaye enumerated some of the challenges to be encountered during the project as land acquisition, resettlement of displaced personnel and the ejection of squatters on police lands but pledged the support and commitment of the Police Administration to the successful completion of the project.
The Deputy Minister of the Interior, Dr Kwasi Apea-Kubi, said the problem of accommodation for all the security services required a holistic approach to resolve the crisis.