STX has the capacity to deliver Ghana's housing needs - CEO

Accra, June 9, GNA - STX Construction and Engineering Company of South Korea, on Tuesday discounted media reports that the corporate entity is bankrupt and can therefore not roll out the 200,000 housing deal it clenched with Government.

Mr Bernard Kwabena Asamoah, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Partner of STX said: "A company that is broke cannot be listed on Korean Stock Exchange.

"STX is Triple A rated company against Ghana's B-rating. This means that the investment grade of STX is very high," he added. Mr Asamoah, who made this known to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, said STX is financing the 1.5 billion-dollar project and all what government would do is to guarantee the payment of the contract, which would span 20 years.

He explained that the project was an agreement that culminated from a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by Vice President John Dramani Mahama and STX Group Chairman, Mr Kang Duk-soo, when he led a bi-partisan delegation to Seoul in March this year.

The CEO said due to the MOU, the Korean government had committed money to pre-finance the security housing component of the project. "The project was a government to government agreement and the Korean administration wouldn't have dole out money for it, if STX is bankrupt." He said there is value for money for Ghanaians if the project takes off adding that the College of Architecture and Planning of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) had produced a blue print for the project.

"KNUST is designing and planning the architectural design for the project and has just completed the first draft. "Local artisans would be employed in their numbers to manage the project.

"The project was not designed by South Korea and forced on Ghanaians." Mr Asamoah said Ghana needs more than one million houses and STX is only providing 200,000.

"This means that any company interested in the housing sector has room to operate. STX produced a proposal to government and won the bid because we have the ability to source funds for the project.

"STX has transformed into STX Ghana, meaning the company is not wholly Korean. Home Finance Company is representing the interest of Ghana in the deal.

"Any other company with strong economic backing or credit rating can do the same under the Public-Private Participation." Mr Asamoah said STX plans to build a number of houses designed to meet all income brackets of Ghanaians, which would include provision of compound houses to those interested.

"STX presence in Ghana would send signals to the investment world to do business in Ghana."

He said South Korean Contractors Association had decided to establish a branch in Ghana.

The approval of the project is currently before Parliament. Last Month a 10-member parliamentary delegation, led by Mr Cletus Avoka, the Majority Leader visited United Arab Emirates to assess some projects executed by STX as part of their fact finding mission before endorsing the deal.

The 200,000 housing project will be located 45 km east of Accra on 200 acres in the Tema Metropolis STX, which has interests in heavy industry, construction, energy and ship building, had 23 billion dollars in assets by the second quarter of 2008. 9 June 10