According to the Ministry, the Mahama administration failed to present to the current government with the original documents covering the project.

The first phase of the $180 million project was inaugurated by President John Mahama on June 15, 2016.

The entire project is expected to produce 5,000 housing units for low and middle-income earners in the country.

In the first phase of construction, 180 apartment blocks comprising over 1,500 flats were built near Tsopoli in the Ningo-Prampram District.

But speaking to Citi News, a Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, Freda Prempeh, said the current administration’s hands would remain tied until it has finished verifying pertinent documents.

“There are conflicting documents. We have not even sighted the original contract documents. I have personally followed up to other agencies to get some more information surrounding the project.”

She said the Ministry was still investigating “to find out exactly what has gone on, how much money has been paid, why the money was paid.”

“… I find it difficult to accept the fact that you sign a contract and after two or three months, you give the contractor $46 million and by the end of 2014, they had been given $92 million. As I speak with you, they have taken 99.11 percent of the total amount so certain questions need to be answered.”

She was however clear that the government was “not going to abandon the project.”

“We are going to pursue it but then we want to do some due diligence before we proceed,” the deputy Minister stated.

As an example of the conflicting details, she noted that, “some documents at the ministry tell us that the contractors were contracted to build 5,000 houses. Some papers are also telling us that they were contracted to build 1,502 in the first phase. Some documents are also telling us that they amended the contract to reduce the scope from 1,502 to 1,408. Another document is telling us that they further amended the contract to reduce the scope of work from 1,400 to 1,024.”

This affordable housing project is meant to address Ghana’s housing deficit of 1.7 million units.

Under the project, about 40 percent of the houses are expected to be sold at subsidized rates for low-income earners.

The project was expected to be complemented with industrial and recreational facilities, schools, shopping malls and other social amenities.

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By: Philip Nii Lartey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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This is due to the budgetary allocation for the Ministry in the 2018 budget, which was noted to be less than half of the funds the Ministry actually requires.

While the Ministry owes contractors to the tune of GHc 1 billion, the entire allocation for the ministry, which is largely concerned with infrastructure, is GHc 91 million.

The Chairman of the Works and Housing Committee of Parliament, Nana Amoako, captured the sentiments of his committee’s members and other MPs in the report of the committee on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday.

“The Ministry has been allocated a total sum GHc 91, 481,044, whilst the actual requirement for the effective implementation of its programme is estimated to be at about GHc 225 million.”

“Though the ministry was able to honour part of its indebtedness to contractors, it still has GHc 1, 174,220,650.59 outstanding as at 31^st October, 2017. This means the ministry’s 2018 total allocation of GHc 91 million will not be able to settle this huge indebtedness,” the MP noted.

The ministry, headed by Samuel Atta-Akyea, had its budget slashed from Ghc 109 million to the current Ghc 91 million.

The Ministry has as its main functions the formulation and coordination of policies and programmes for the development of the country’s infrastructure requirements in respect of works and housing.

It previously had to concern itself with water supply and sanitation, before a separate Ministry for Water Resources and Sanitation was created by the Akufo-Addo administration.

The Ministry coordinates and supervises, by way of monitoring and evaluation of the performance of both public and private agencies responding to and participating in the realization of the policy objectives established for the sector.

But one of the major headaches of the Ministry will be to ease the drainage problems in urban areas which is greatly affecting housing.

Well aware of the financial constraints, the sector minister, Mr. Atta-Akyea, noted to Parliament in November that government has put together a road-map to provide permanent infrastructure solution to the perennial flooding in Accra, which would be involved in seeking external help.

He said the capital expenditure for the provision of the drainage and sewage to fix the recurring floods were beyond the national budget.

But beyond this, the World Bank in a recent report estimated that, to address Ghana’s huge infrastructure deficit, a sustained spending of at least $1.5bn per annum over the next decade would be needed to plug the infrastructure gap.

In general, the allocation to public infrastructure declined in the 2018 budget to GHc 1.804 million in 2018, from GHc 2.624 million in 2017.

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By: Duke Mensah Opoku & Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Housing Ministry budget inadequate for debt, others – MPs appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to the Ministry, contrary to these claims, government has paid a substantial amount of money to contractors putting up the sea defense walls within the country’s coastal communities for completion.

[contextly_sidebar id=”QNoPxp4We5s7rGdYFDFIWhCWs0wuXtJs”]The Deputy Minister for Works and Housing, Eugene Boakye Antwi, who gave the clarification said; “The Ministry under the able leadership of honourable Samuel Atta Kyea visited all the Sea Defence projects that we inherited under the previous administration. We have been to Berekuso, New Takoradi, Adjoa and all the projects that we have inherited and what I can categorically say is that, we have not abandoned any of these projects.”

He admitted that although payment to contractors working on the project had been “lacking over the past month or two, all contractors have received something from the Central government for the ongoing projects.”

He therefore said it will be unfair for Mr. Ahi to make such claims.

Announcing other measures government was undertaking to complete other projects, Mr. Antwi. said ; “First of all, we have identified 5 key projects that we have to embark upon that is Axim sea defence project, the Elmina one, Anomabo among others. These projects are very capital intensive and the government of Ghana cannot do this alone so we expect some donor funding.”

Mr. Ahi had accused government of halting all sea defense projects the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government started.

According to him, the projects, over ten in number, had been halted because the contractors had not been paid since the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) assumed office.

Speaking to Citi News’ Parliamentary Correspondent, Duke Mensah Opoku, Mr. Ahi, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Bodi Constituency in the Western Region, charged government to immediately pay the contractors to enable them resume work.

“All the sea defense projects have been abandoned. Before we left office, we had started working on over ten sea defense projects along the coastal belts. There were some in Takoradi, Volta and Central regions just to make sure that the people living within the coast are protected. When they (NPP government) assumed office, they have abandoned the projects. The contractors are not on site because they have not been paid since the NPP assumed office.”

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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