Botched Saglemi housing project: Corruption caused the delay - Asenso-Boakye

Earlier, the former Minister of Housing, Samuel Atta Akyea revealed that former NDC government officials involved in the botched Saglemi Housing deal embezzled more than $114 million of the $179.9 million paid to the contractor.

He said only $64 million of the total amount released for the project, was sunk into the project per a report signed by the President of the Ghana Institute of Surveyors, Dr. John Amaglo.

According to him, "The Ghana Institute of Surveyors has come out with a report showing that what is on the ground, measured against the money received will bring out a very very huge figure of about $114 million."

In an interview on Accra-based Joy FM, Atta Akkyea said "It is stated in black and white that the amount paid to the contractor is $179,904,752.5.

"It is stated clearly that the total works on the ground are $64 million, the difference is what gives you the $114 million I’m talking about."

Francis Asenso Boakye ece-auto-gen

The Minister disclosed that former ministers who played a role in the stalled US$200 million Saglmei Housing project will be prosecuted.

Asenso-Boakye speaks on the botched housing project

Asenso-Boakye speaking at a news conference in Accra, said a technical audit by the Ghana Institution of Surveyors on the Saglemi Project which initially had an output target of 5000 units at a total cost of US$200million had estimated that additional funds would be required to complete the project.

"The original output target of the Saglemi project of 5,000 units at a total cost of US$200million as stipulated in the financing agreement presented to, and approved by Parliament had surreptitiously, and drastically, reduced to 1,502, of which 1,389 units had been completed without a commensurate reduction in the overall loan financing. Currently, an amount of approximately, US$197million representing 98 percent has been expended on 1,502 units as against the planned 5,000 units," he said.

He added: "In doing all that we intend to do, we also believe that there is a huge institutional gap in housing deliberation in this country. I don’t believe in putting housing development in the hands of politicians because I believe that it’s a technical job. The reason why you don't put housing projects in the hands of politicians is to ensure that we can ensure continuity in addressing housing problems. If you are not lucky and find an unscrupulous politician in office, the end result is what we have at Saglemi.

"Project failure is what you will experience, and it will not be properly thought through and the implementation will not go well and corruption will be the order of the day. That is all Saglemi is all about."

He further chastised the erstwhile NDC government for not completing housing projects started by the then John Agyekum Kufuor administration.

"In the case of affordable housing, in recent times the first major affordable housing was started by President Kufuor. He didn’t finish the projects before he left office. It was expected that the succeeding government will continue it out of goodwill and even in response to the constitution, but it rather went to do a new project bypass at Kpone, where one of the affordance housing projects was and went miles away just for political consideration. This project was designed in Saglemi and a lot of things were not considered," he stated.

Saglemi affordable housing project

Sadly, a 1502 flats-first phase of the 5,000 housing units at Saglemi in the Ningo-Prampram District inherited by the government under former President John Mahama is left to rot away.

In August 2012, as part of moves to alleviate the housing deficit in Ghana, Mahama signed a $280 million deal to construct 5,000 housing units at Saglemi.

The project has since been saddled with controversy as the NPP administration has accused the Mahama administration of supervising a corrupt deal that shortchanged the public purse.