rlg’s US$10bn project comes alive

By Fred Sarpong&Kofi Ahovi

rlg Communications, a local assembling firm is set to construct a US$10 billion project dubbed Hope City at Weija in the Ga West District of Greater Accra region.

The Hope City project is the cluster for rlg ICT Park, focused on Information Communication Technology, an initiative of Roland Agambire, Chairman of AGAMS Group, in collaboration with the Government of Ghana, as part of the national development policy framework of turning Ghana into a knowledge-society and an active player in the global economy.

Hope City will accommodate 50,000 people and will host 25,000 inhabitants. The cluster is articulated on a plot of 100,000 square meters, developing a total Gross Floor Area of approximately 1.2 million square meters, for a total built area of approximately 1.5 million square meters.

Hope City is designed by Architect OBR as a vertical city composed by towers linked together by a system of bridges at different height, including common activities and amenities, creating an interconnection of different functions from very public to very private. In this way the towers are not a series of separated objects in the landscape, but define together a unique compound as a new urban polarity in the widespread cityscape, creating a very effective urban life based on easy and sustainable interconnectivity and visual-physical communication between people.

The cluster is composed by six towers of different dimensions: one tower of 270 m height (75 storeys, the highest in Africa), two towers of 216 m height (60 storeys) and three towers of 152 m height (42 storeys).

The towers are designed to create a central space as a Piazza on three levels, which characterizes the podium as a very a social place. An inner Garden becomes the connection between architecture and landscape, representing the very common space where people can meet in interconnected way.

Commissioning the project, President John Dramani Mahama said the rlg dream is a great example of partnership between the government and private investors. He said Ghana will now rely on the private sector to move the country from the current lower middle income status to a fully fledged middle income status.

He also stated that the path to development in the 21^st century is by investing in services and knowledge economy, adding, wealth and economic growth is no longer dependent on the oil, cocoa, timber and other natural resources.

“Government is particularly excited that this business initiative is being led by a local company, rlg and the project has many potential for the sustainable creation of jobs for our young people.

“I want to assure that government will offer the necessary support to rlg and any such business entity to guarantee the successful execution of this and similar projects.

He said the project will compliment the national technology park that is currently under construction by government in Tema. “The completion of both projects will contribute greatly to making Ghana an ICT hub for the sub-region he added. “The projects will be complimentary to each other and not in competition with each other,” he emphasised.

Hope City is intended to promote- through Architecture – the sense of Community, sharing common values in common space, such as the connecting Bridges, the central Piazza and the inner Garden.

Connecting social and environmental sustainability and with the green design strategies of the project, Hope City is a great opportunity to create a “pilot project” for a sustainable real estate development in Ghana and Africa, in accordance to LEED Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design.

The project provides for the development of a Cluster of Information and Communications Technology, which will reflect the atmosphere of a luxurious business center with panoramic views through the surrounding landscape.

It will create a new urban effect with a strong identity that will increase rlg corporate values, promoting – through Architecture – a new life style and stimulating the sense of belonging by the people to a new international contemporary community.

In this sense, the project will be a new urban polarity, producing wide benefits in the city of Accra. It will be the most innovative and sustainable real estate development in Ghana and a “pilot project” for Africa.