LUSPA board satisfied with work on new head office building

Construction work on the new head office building for the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUPSA), located at West Airport, is progressing steadily.

The four-storey structure, when completed, would have 15 large offices, each of which would accommodate about five workers.

The office would also have a training room, a conference room and a library, with the third floor of the building being reserved for the executive floor with the chief executive, the deputy chief executives and the director’s offices.

Last Thursday, some members of the board and management of LUPSA toured the site to access the work being done and they expressed satisfaction with the progress of the work.

A team from the Daily Graphic on the tour observed that workers were busily engaged in their assigned roles on the project that had reached the roofing level.

Completion date

An Architect with Akuffo and Associates, Ernestina Tsotsoo Adjei, told the Daily Graphic that the expected completion date for the project was April 2025, and gave the assurance that her outfit was working towards that.

Currently, she said, the contractor was about two months behind schedule but explained that sometimes construction came with situations that could not be envisaged.

“There are times when you plan to use a week for reinforcement and these are things you cannot compromise, so most of the times, we have corrections to do and these things take time and all that amounted to these delays.

“Once we are off with the civil works, we are hoping that by December this year, the whole building will be roofed,” Ms Adjei said.

Value for money

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the LUSPA, Professor Kwasi Kwarfo Adarkwa, said the work done so far was “quite impressive and we think that we are getting value for money.”

He described the office spaces as generous and said now the LUSPA could think of perhaps even giving part of the building, if need be, to an assembly.

Prof. Adarkwa, who is also a former Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), said the nature of the work was such that when one brought a third party like a bank, it would attract a lot more traffic which would change the serene environment.

Asked if there was an alternative use for the current head office, which is at the last floor of the Ministries Post Office, Professor Adarkwa said the LUSPA intended to use that office as the Greater Accra Regional LUSPA office.

“This will be the head office and it is possible that we may also get the regional LUSPA to be here, and once any other physical planning department in any of the assemblies is hard up with space we can accommodate them here,” the LUSPA board chair indicated.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the LUSPA, Dr Kwadwo Yeboah, expressed delight at the progress of work and said “We are very happy with what is going on.”

Dr Yeboah expressed the hope that the contractor would complete the project by the end of April 2025 as scheduled, “so that we can move in and have an office that befits our status as an authority”.