The Tuesday night fire at the warehouse of the Saglemi Affordable Housing project was started by some labourers who had been engaged to clear the camp site for actual redevelopment to start.
According to reports, in the process, the labourers set fire to clear some weeds they had gathered, however the fire got out of control and spread to one of the external warehouses containing some expired materials.
The Ghana National Fire Service was therefore called in to handle the situation.
Two sheds which serves warehouses and located 477 meters from the existing housing project caught fire on December 24,2024.
In an interview with journalists after the fire on Wednesday, December 25,2024, the Managing Director of Quarm LMI, Kofi Adabor Ofori-Amanfo noted the affected warehouse houses contain cartons of plumbing materials amd some pipes used in the previous estate development would not affect the project.
He said the damaged materials had expired adding that most of them would not be reused when the project to restart next year.
Cause of fire
Touching on the cause of fire, Mr Ofori-Amanfo said some labourers had been engaged to clear the camp site for actual redevelopment to start.
He said in the process, the labourers set fire to clear some weeds they had gathered, however the fire got out of control and spread to one of the external warehouses containing the expired materials.
He said personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service at Sege were called in to handle the situation.
Mr Ofori-Amanfo reiterated that the houses at the scheme had not been affected by the the fire adding that the two sheds had cartons of plumbing materials and pipes that were used in the previous works
He said most of the burnt materials had expired and would not be reused under the current development which will start next year.
Mr Ofori-Amanfo debunked assertions that documents were lost stressing that the affected shed was not an office.
The MD said the fire incident was not going to impact the project since new materials would be brought in to complete the project.
Saglemi Intact
The Minister of Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah who was accompanied by the Chief Director of the Ministry, Rev. Stephen Yaw Osei emphasized that contrary to speculation that the housing project has been burnt, the project was still intact.
While waiting for the investigative report from the Ghana National Fire into the warehouses fire, the Minister admonished the developer to adhere to the relevant regukation amd building codes as they prepare to start the redevelopment and also stick to agreed timelines.
Selection
This followed the conclusion of negotiations and the receipt of a report on negotiations from a government team comprising representatives of the Ministry of Works and Housing, Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Finance, and Deloitte with technical evaluation support from the Ghana Institute of Surveyors
The company is expected complete the 1,506 Saglemi housing units, which will then be sold to the public, with a focus on salaried employees and workers’ unions.