On Wednesday, April 19, 2023, President Akufo-Addo officially opened the Kwabenya Police Barracks Project for the officers, both male and female, of the Ghana Police Service.
Speaking to the crowd at the event, President Akufo-Addo said that since taking office in 2017, the government has started a number of initiatives aimed at addressing Ghana’s housing shortage, which currently numbers around two million units.
The President claimed that despite these measures, the rapid urbanization still places a tremendous strain on our land resources and has resulted in the degradation of prime lands, particularly in urban areas.
“That is why Government, through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Lands Commission, has embarked on an ambitious urban renewal programme, aimed at redeveloping prime areas in major cities across the country, including the Kumasi Sector 18, Marine Drive Tourism Development Project and the Takoradi Beach Road Redevelopment Scheme, amongst others” he said.
President Akufo-Addo continued, “This facility, which I am commissioning today, is the outcome of one such urban renewal programme, the Aviation City Redevelopment Project at the Airport enclave. It is to pave way for this redevelopment that these state-of-the-art facilities have been constructed, through a public-private partnership with Unique Development Company, for our hardworking men and women of the Ghana Police Service.”
Five hundred and fourteen (514) one- and two-bedroom self-contained flats make up the facility, of which three hundred and twenty-two (322) are finished and ready for occupancy.
These units, which come equipped with contemporary amenities, will provide police officers and their families with cozy living quarters and a favorable working environment.
In addition to the housing, this project offers a clinic, a football field made of artificial turf, a tennis court, a standby generator, a police station, a fueling station, a workshop enclave, and other necessary amenities.
This, the President said, “is further testimony of our unwavering commitment to provide decent accommodation and other facilities for our security personnel. Not only will this facility improve the welfare of our police officers, it will also enhance their capacity to serve our nation even more effectively.”
Thus, he urged the Lands Commission and Unique Development Company, as well as the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, to get to work and finish the final 102 housing units and other facilities that make up the project’s second phase.
“I have been briefed that work is also far advanced on the construction of fifteen-bedroom self-contained flats for the Ghana Meteorological Agency, the Ghana Airport Company Limited, and the Greater Accra Regional Office of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA). The completion of these projects is crucial to the implementation of the Aviation City Project,” President Akufo-Addo said.
The developer, Unique Development Company Limited, was praised by the president for working with the government to build these facilities for the Police Service.
