The Housing Minister has revealed that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the police is interrogating his predecessor and other Ministers in the Mahama era for allegedly ‘inflating’ 1,500 units of Saglemi Affordable Housing Projects.

According to Samuel Atta-Akyea, the Ghana Institution of Surveyors has submitted its audit report on the Saglemi Housing project and his Ministry has forwarded the findings to the CID for action.

He stated that Collins Dauda and other officials cited in the alleged corrupt practice always report to the CID to assist in investigations.

“I have heard this Jane-John argument that we [NPP] have abandoned Saglemi, but we haven’t abandoned the projects, Saglemi is tainted with embezzlement there is no dispute about it.

“And I could tell you that the Ghana Institution of Surveyors have come out with a conclusive report to the effect that Saglemi is a rip-off and the amount of money that have been blown in the project is over $100 million and the housing structures over there do not measure up to the monies that they have indicated.

“So I am not here to embarrass anybody, but if we [NPP] don’t go through the legalities of it, how do we continue, so now that we have surrendered the GIS report to the CID, we can look forward to completing the project,” he said.

Speaking to a section of the press in Parliament Thursday, Atta-Akyea promised that government will soon resume work project after the CID complete its work on the audit findings.

“I can’t be too sure that it will be ready at the end of the year but it will be extremely good if the job is continued. Because we have pushed so hard to ensure that Saglemi is not abandoned,” he said.

Background

The 2,172 acres on which the Saglemi housing project is situated was procured in 2002 during the era of President John Agyekum Kufuor.

On August 15, 2012, President John Evans Atta Mills gave executive approval to the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing to implement the project.

The project involved the construction of 5,000 housing units for sale to members of the public through mortgage provided by Ghana Home Loans.

The project was implemented by Constrastora OAS Ghana Limited through a buyers credit of up to $200 million.

The first phase of 1,500 housing units was to be delivered by March 31, 2016 but was extended to August 31.

Source: Myjoyonline.com