Renegotiation Ordered In $30m Lands Commission Office Building Deal

A value for money audit shows that the new Headquarters of the Lands Commission, which was awarded in 2016, was overpriced by about 18 million dollars.

It follows a directive by the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, for a review of the Bill of Quantities and other relevant documents relating to the proposed Head Office Building.

The Lands Commission in 2016 entered into an arrangement with Northshore Limited to construct ultr-modern Headquarters Building for which cost of the development would be financed through a land swap arrangement.

Per the arrangement, the Lands Commission agreed to swap approximately 10 acres of land around the 37 Military Hospital enclave valued at $30 million to Messrs Northshore, the developer. The amount of $29,181,290.28 million was the approximate cost of construction based on the Bill of Quantities and other relating drawing that the Lands Commission submitted to the Presidency.

Yaw Osafo Maafo ordered value for money audit into the construction of the edifice

However, the value for money analysis report compiled by the College of Art and Built Environment of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) revealed, the entire cost of the project should be $12.473, 045.58 million.

See details of the variation below:

This means the construction is overpriced by by approximately $16,708,244.7 million translating into 134 per cent, contained in the report put together by a hugely experienced team of academics, researchers and in the field of construction, quantity surveying and issues relating to built environment in general.

The review team had representation from the Department of Building Technology and Quantity Surveying, Department of Architecture, Department of Land Economy as well as the Department of Planning.

The report, therefore directed the Lands Commission to renegotiate with the developer to ensure that there is value for money based on the rates provided by the experts at KNUST.

Office complex
A new ultra modern office complex is to house the Head Offices of the Lands Commission and other Land Sector Agencies in Accra.

The new office complex is to ensure a better working environment for the staff of the Commission and most importantly to facilitate the One-Stop-Shop Concept to help eliminate or reduce to the barest minimum, personal contact between the public and officials in land transactions.