Why 1,500 Saglemi housing units have not been occupied?

05:28 - 17 March 2018

A report by Daily Graphic on Friday said the fate of the Saglemi housing project, executed at $180 million, is not different from that of other state housing schemes in different parts of the country that have either been abandoned or are being worked on at a snail’s pace.

The Ministry of Works and Housing has explained why the 1,500 Saglemi

Commenting on the issue in a Citi News interview, the Deputy Minister of Works and Housing Freda Prempeh said the fate of the project was as a result of conflicting documents handed to her Ministry by the Mahama administration.

“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.

She insisted the Ministry wants to find out "exactly what has gone on, how much money has been paid, why the money was paid.”

Mrs Prempeh said it was unacceptable for the contractor to be paid 99.11 percent when the project is yet to be completed.

She said: “ 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.”

The deputy minister also assured that 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,” he said.