Palace Ready April: 9 Months before inauguration of next President(Front Page)

Story: Michael Donkor
THE new $50-million Presidential Palace at the Flagstaff House will be ready nine months before the inauguration of the next President of Ghana.
The manager of the project, Mr Ashfaque Husein of Shapoorji Pallonji, confirmed to the Daily Graphic yesterday that the facility would be ready for habitation and handed over to the government in April next year.
That is nine clear months before the inauguration of the next President, an event scheduled for January 7, 2009.
A visit to the project site revealed that 90 per cent of the work has been completed and the workers were giving finishing touches to the Very Important Personality (VIP) areas, interior decorations, villa furnishing, landscaping and road works.
Some workers were also spotted busily laying tiles bearing the Adinkra and Gye Nyame symbols on the walls of the presidential office, while the roads at the palace were being constructed
The central airconditioners were being fixed, while the roofing for the old presidential palace was being changed.
At the Presidential Villa, the workers were plastering the walls and laying some blocks.
Mr Husein said when completed, the palace would comprise the President’s office, the Vice-President’s office and offices for their supporting staff.
He said it would also have a banquet hall and an underground water tank, while the old Presidential Villa would be turned into a museum.
Mr Husein said there would be a commercial building which would be used for other activities such as banking services.
He noted that what might delay the completion of work on the project might be the relocation of some personnel of the security services who were housed in some buildings there.
Mr Husein explained that the buildings were to be pulled down for landscaping.
He said landscaping took time because it involved the planting of green grass, which took time to grow.
He appealed to the authorities to relocate the personnel occupying those buildings quickly to enable the workers to move into the landscaping aspect.