Housing Minister Atta Akyea inspects projects in Accra [AUDIO]

A housing project, Little London, begun six years ago by the State Housing Company (SHC), has come to a standstill due to litigation over the property.

The litigation had come about because the contractor in charge of the project allegedly defaulted in making payments to a lender from whom he raised about $2.5 million for the project located at Adentan in Accra.

The lender got the court to place an injunction on the 65-apartment project after he sued the contractor and SHC, who guaranteed the loan for the contractor.

Resentment

The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Samuel Atta Akyea, who visited the site yesterday, expressed his disappointment with the situation and described it as counter-productive.

He said he was saddened that a project of such magnitude, which was about 75 per cent complete, could not reach  full term and for rollout, owing to litigation.

"The litigation has gone on for years and that's very counter-productive. We will see what we can do to ensure that people do not use litigation to stall development because it doesn’t help matters.

"We will take steps to get rid of the injunction and get the project going as soon as possible," he assured.

He said it was his belief that the parties did not intend to frustrate the housing project but the issue of money had become an essential point.

"If money is the problem, then the project must be allowed to continue so that proceeds realised from the sale of the apartments will be paid to court," he said.

Tour

Mr Atta Akyea, who was on a working visit, also toured some other SHC funded projects at Adentan comprising single family homes and bungalows.

He also visited North Kaneshie where work was about 60 per cent complete on a 16 apartment blocks. The buildings are expected to be completed in April next year.

The minister who was visibly elated with progress of work, commended the contractor highly for work done.

"This is nice, it looks very good. You have done so well, especially, using your own funds to embark on the project," he said.

Retooling

The Managing Director of SHC, Mr Kwabena Appiah, who was in the company of the minister, said SHC had embarked on an aggressive drive to retool in order to become more viable.

He said the company ought to be self-sufficient to enable it to deliver on its mandate effectively.

"Two and a half years ago, the company did not even have a shovel but we are now retooling and buying construction equipment for our housing projects.

"In the past years, we had outsourced all of our housing projects to contractors and that is part of the reason why we have not met expectations. But now the company is moving into constructing its own building projects," he added.