Gov't considering funding options for stalled affordable housing project

Government has begun a process to raise funding for the completion of the Affordable Housing Projects initiated by the NPP government.

Consequently, government has set up a committee to advise it on how to reactivate the project.

Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Enoch Teye Mensah told a news conference in Accra on Monday government is worried not even a single flat out of the over 4,700 flats that were to be built under the project was completed.

He alleges the then government invested some $70, 000 000 in the project.

The Minister explained work on the NPP affordable housing scheme stalled for a number of reasons, including the absence of sustainable funding arrangements.

He said 61 out of the 388 contractors who were paid advance mobilization, either failed to move to site or did very little work and that as much as 470 houses were allocated to persons at the Office of the President alone.

On the actual status of the project, the Minister said work on the Borteyman housing scheme at Nungua is 62% completed while those at Kpone were 55% completed.

The Asokore-Mampong project is 61% complete, Koforidua 25%, Tamale 29% and Wa 7%.

He said it was erroneous for the NPP to criticize a recent MOU signed with GUMA Group of South Africa for the construction of 500 apartments for the security agencies because the MOU was only to facilitate the main agreement.

He described the NPP's statement describing the deal as side-lining of GREDA as “opportunistic, hypocritical and farcical”.

The Minister said since independence the only Government which has scored zero when it comes to provision of affordable houses is the NPP/Dankwa-Busia tradition.

According to him, the NPP only concentrated on the sale of public houses to themselves, depriving public and civil servants of accommodation.