Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Benito Owusu-Bio, said a request for proposals would be issued on March 28 for interested contractors to bid for the designing and construction of buildings.

Speaking at a briefing here in Accra yesterday, he noted that a new spatial plan had been designed by Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA) for the Appiatse community in consultation with the citizens of the town and their leaders.

He indicated that the plan makes room for additional social spaces including transportation terminals, clinics, schools, markets and expansion of roads.

The Deputy Minister noted that works on the temporary structure secured from Future Global Resources Limited to provide shelter to the victims during the rainy season was ongoing.

He said the reconstruction works would ensure high level of local participation in building a green and sustainable community as mandated.

Detailing the plan, Charles Blankson Hemans, a member of the Appiatse Reconstruction Committee and the Ghana Institute of Architects, said 124 houses of various sizes would be constructed.

“We will be constructing 41 one-bedrooom houses, 35 two-bedroom houses, 25 three-bedroom houses, 15 four-bedroom houses, eight five-bedroom houses, one six-bedroom house and one seven-bedroom house.

The project seeks to replace exactly what each individual lost to the explosion. We’ve already engaged the community and they have their inputs in designing the plan,” he stated.

In all, he noted that 416 buildings would be newly constructed and refurbished adding that cost of construction could be calculated following the designing of the housing structures.

Mr Hemans added that the designing and building of the houses, which was expected to last about a year, would be done in harmony with the parameters set out in the National Housing Policy, 2015.

He said the committee, would in the coming days, open a designing scheme for the public and professionals to have their input adding that the “best designs that promote green and sustainability would be selected.”

Mohammed Alhassan Damba, Director of Research, LUSPA stated that the designing was done to ensure a continuity of the socio-cultural lifestyles of the Appiatse community.

He said 12.5 to 13 kilometers of access road would be constructed in phases aimed at enabling movement in the rebuilt community.