By Issah Mohammed

Accra, June 21, GNA – Spektra Global, a Ghanaian architectural and building firm, has completed the construction of an office edifice for the Ghana Insurers Association (GIA), which it handed over to the Association on Friday. 

The building, named: “Insurance House”, located at Kanda in Accra, is a three-storey structure with a single basement that occupies approximately 1,750 square metres of land. 

It features a banking hall space, conference and meeting rooms, offices, lounges, restaurant and a roof top terrace. 

Dr Abiba Zakariah, the Commissioner of Insurance, said the building currently housed the GIA and the Ghana National Bureau of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme. 

She said the building was a symbol of unity and a deep sense of collaboration of industry players who used to work in silos. 

“It was not an easy road, there were funding challenges, competing priorities, bureaucratic hurdles. And at times, downs that tested the resolve of even the most determined mind,” Dr Sakaria said. 

“This building stands because of a collective perseverance and unshakable unity.”  

Mr Seth Aklasi, the President of the GIA, said in an interview that the building was to improve accessibility and to enable Ghanaians to see the tangible aspect of insurance. 

“Anybody who goes around and sees that we have a building here should know that if it is anything insurance, whether complain or enquires, he should be able to get it from this place,” he said. 

Mr William Evans Halm, the Chief Executive Officer of Spektra Global, indicated that the project design took into consideration the environmental and traffic impact assessment, as well as health and safety management plan. 

“We did a solar study of the building from 7 am to 4 pm to see how the sun impacts it and to mitigate the heat,” he added. 

Mr Halm advised members of the public seeking to put up edifices, be it for residential or commercial purposes, to do so with a budget in mind. 

Having a budget, he said, would help prevent projects from stalling and save cost by re-scoping project design when price of materials changed. 

“The most difficult thing for anyone is to have a project in mind and in the middle, you get surprised because prices have changed,” he said. 

The GIA is a trade Association for all companies registered and licensed to transact insurance business in Ghana. 

It serves as the collective voice and representative body for insurance companies, reinsurers, and other entities operating in the insurance sector. 

The association was registered under the Companies Code, 1963 Act 179 as amended by the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992), on May 27, 1988. 

It was inaugurated by the PNDC Member responsible for Finance and Economic Planning, Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, on the October 7, 1988. 

GNA 

Agnes Boye-Doe