Affordable housing contractors cry out

Contractors working on the suspended affordable housing project at Borteyman and Kpone in the Greater Accra Region are crying foul over government’s failure to fulfill agreements to allow them to continue with the project.

According to the contractors, although they were contracted to execute the affordable housing project during the previous NPP administration, the contract came to a halt with the introduction of the failed STX housing project by the present government.

They indicated that the period for their contract with Government had expired but the project had not been completed due to its suspension.

Government, they said, owed them huge sums of money.

Even though DAILY GUIDE learnt that the project was started with local contractors, six of the houses had been given to Chinese contractors who have completed them for soldiers to occupy.

The contractors recalled a series of meetings with the Minister of Water Resources Works and Housing, Enoch Teye Mensah, to look for the way forward but this had not yielded any positive development.

At a meeting attended by the contractors in Accra last Thursday, a number of them said that although Mr E.T. Mensah had on Tuesday, July 10, 2012, assured them of Government’s willingness to go on with the project, they had since not heard from him.

They claimed that the minister had failed to answer their phone calls or respond to all letters written to him.

The only response they received from the ministry, after a meeting with Mr Mensah, was a letter signed by the project co-ordinator, one E. Banning, which requested all the contractors and the subcontractors to indicate in writing their preparedness to continue with the contract for Ghana Affordable Housing Project at Borteyman and Kpone.

Furthermore, the letter reminded them that Government was ready to commence the project.

According to the contractors, on July 13, 2012, they responded to the letter, indicating their preparedness to continue with the contract but would prefer that the whole contract is reviewed, considering the lapsed period.

The contractors lamented that since then, they had not heard from the minister, adding that follow-up reminders had hit dead ends.

They lamented that