How $200m Saglemi Housing Units ‘chop chop’ was carried out
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Deputy Minister for Works and Housing, Eugene Boakye Antwi, has disclosed how the Saglemi housing project units was scaled down twice yet the contract sum of $200m remained unchanged.
The Saglemi Housing project has become a subject of controversy following complaints of abandonment.
The first phase of the project, with 1,500 housing units, which was commissioned by John Mahama in 2016 have been left unused for more than a year now. The ruling government claims the rooms lack various amenities; hence uninhabitable.
Parliament in 2012 approved the sum of $200 million for the construction of 5,000 housing units. The project, which was intended to reduce the country’s massive housing deficit is seated on a 300-acre land with one to three bedroom apartments for low-income earners.
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But the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government has been accused by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) of leaving the project to rot.
In defence, Government says it is auditing the project and may be forced to terminate the contract with the company, and ensure the taxpayer’s monies are well accounted for, since it appears the state has been shortchanged.
Contributing to a panel discussion on Peace FM’s morning show ‘Kokrokoo’, Tuesday morning, Hon Boakye Antwi, who also doubles as Member of Parliament for Subin constituency, claimed there is empirical evidence to show the project was altered without recourse to Parliament from 5000 units to 1502 and reduced again to 1,024 units.
He accuses his immediate predecessor and the John Mahama administration of milking the state by cutting back on the number of housing units Ghana should have received from the contractor in charge of the controversial project.
“…..they (NDC) failed to account properly to Parliament over loans acquired for the original number of housing units planned….they even fail to inform Parliament of the decision to downsize the original number,” the deputy minister disclosed.
