The Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing (MWRWH), Samuel Atta Akyea, is shocked at how the contractor for the Saglemi Housing Project was paid huge sums of money for literally no work done.
The Minister cum Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa South could not fathom why if the Ministry, which signed the contract under the previous Mahama administration, was bewitched.
Mr Atta Akyea was in Parliament yesterday to answer a question asked by the MP for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, who sought to find out the state of the Saglemi Housing Project, and when Ghanaians may have the benefit of same.
As part of his response, the Works and Housing Minister told the legislature that the contractor had abandoned the project after taking part of the agreement sum. He, however, assured the House that the Akufo-Addo government would work to complete the project.
In a written answer to the question, the Minister said: “Rt. Hon Speaker, I do not know if the then MWRWH had been bewitched by the contractor.”
He explained: “A fantastic sum of US$80 million, representing 40% of the contract sum, was paid as mobilisation to the contractor by the MWRWH. Immediately the sum of US$80,000 was released to the contractor, when actual work had not started, the contractor transferred abroad US$ 40 million.
“I submit that the seed of the bankruptcy of the Saglemi Housing Project was sown by this dubious act. This racket was so strong that the Ministry did not demand a performance bond as a necessary prerequisite before the release of the US$80million.”
According to the Minister, the contractor of the project, Messrs Construtora OAS Ghana Limited, a Brazilian company incorporated under the laws of Ghana, “is one of the NDC government’s inherited troubles.”
Giving reasons for the stalling of the project, the Minister said there was no denial of the fact that the contractor, having received an amount of US$179,904,757.78 out of the contract sum of US$181,018,000, representing 99.39%, should have delivered pro rata almost all the 5,000 housing units, inclusive the on-site infrastructure.
He explained further that for the purposes of the argument, holding all factors constant, the contract sum of US$200,000,000 was to rollout 5,000 housing units.
He, however, swiftly gave credit to the contractor, as having constructed 1,024 housing units, which translates into US$40,960,000.
Regardless, the Minister said that the contractor had misappropriated the sum of US$159,040,000.
He gave a breakdown of the payments made so far by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) in a letter No. DMD/MWRWH/OAS/GEN/2018/01 dated May 31, 2018, which indicated that the total disbursement made by the MWRWH on the project to date is US$195,854,969.52.
The breakdown is Construtora OAS Ghana Limited – US$179,904,757.78, Architectural & Engineering Services Limited – US$ 2,550, 000, Ridge Management Solution (RMG) – US$8,662,029.20, and Vior Hugo-Coodencao E Gesta De Projectos – US$4,738,182.54.
According to the above letter, the balance on the Escrow Account held at the Bank of Ghana as at 30th April, 2018, is US$2,246,480.34, the Minister added.
Concluding, he added that the contract had lapsed according to the opinion of the Attorney-General (AG).
He said the AG asserts a strong position in law that all the contracts purportedly signed by the former Minister, Collins Dauda, “and thereafter some wayward Chief Directors after the original contract had received parliamentary approval, are void ab initio and have no legal consequence.”
Meanwhile, at the moment, he said, the Ghana Institution of Surveyors is engaged in a value for money audit.
He said its findings would indicate the extent of embezzlement of state resources via the vehicle of affordable housing delivery.
All the traducers of the law will be arraigned before a court of competent jurisdiction to answer criminal charges, and civil action shall be used to recover monies lost to the state.
He noted that the audit would also project how much money would be required to complete the 5,000 housing units with full amenities.
“In accordance with Article 35(7) of the Constitution, the Akufo-Addo government pledges to complete the botched Mahama Saglemi Housing Project.
“When we surmount these challenges, we can positively inform this august House as to when my Ministry will deliver the 5,000 housing units with full amenities for the benefit of our hardworking workers,” he remarked.
The post I don’t know if Housing Ministry was bewitched under Mahama -Atta Akyea appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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