SHC to revive 80-unit apartment project in Adentan
State Housing Company (SHC) is to commence work on the abandoned 80-unit apartment block at Adentan Dry Pond area in Accra, following the lifting of an injunction that was placed on the project.
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The Little London blocks, comprising two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments most of which are near completion, have been deserted for over 12 years after the developer — Proteus Company Limited -- took the company to court in 2017 over a disagreement on the contract.
However, with the developer's persistent failure to show up at the Accra High Court for the hearing of the case in six years, the injunction was lifted by the court, paving the way for the company to resume work.
Familiarisation tour
The Managing Director of the SHC, Kwabena Ampofo Appiah, made this known when members of the Works and Housing Committee of Parliament paid a working visit to the project site last Thursday.
The committee, led by its chairman, Isaac Asiamah, embarked on the visit to familiarise itself with four different projects being executed by SHC and the challenges facing their timely completion.
The projects, some of which had been completed and sold out already, were the Surge Homes at Amrahia, Urban Premier Court and Legacy Court, all in the Adentan Municipality.
Truncated contract
Briefing the committee members on the Little London contract, Mr Appiah said the project was started in 2009/2010 by former President John Evans Atta Mills.
He said that was after the SHC had entered into a three-year development agreement with the Proteus Company between February and June 2013 for the construction of residential dwellings in the Adentan Dry Pond area.
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Under the private-public agreement, the SHC MD said the company was to provide land while Proteus Company was required to raise capital to develop, complete and sell the apartments, the proceeds of which would be shared 20 per cent and 80 per cent between the former and latter.
"The developer later on came back to SHC to say that they were not able to find funding for the project.”
“Though Proteus Company could not raise the funds, SHC had to guarantee a $1million for the project funding and the developer still insisted on getting 80 per cent and the government 20 per cent.”
Unaltered agreement
The MD expressed worry that when the agreement was later altered, the original contract was never altered.
With the SHC now bringing in the funding, he said the developer basically became the contractor.
“At that time, what should have happened was that the original arrangement should have been amended and renegotiated because as a contractor you cannot get 80 per cent,” he said.
Mr Appiah explained that when the management of the company, which considered that the contract was not properly signed changed, the developer sued SHC.
EOCO investigation
The SHC MD indicated that when he took over as the new MD, he found out that the contract "did not make sense and invited the EOCO to investigate what happened”.
He said luckily, after the EOCO’s report came out, the developer who had sued the company stopped showing up in court “obviously because they found out that a lot of criminality had been unearthed and the case was hanging".
"Finally, we have been able to get the go-ahead to get back to site, finish and give the project back to Ghanaians who will be interested.
Once we start, we estimate that within six to seven months, we will finish work on the project and we will find the funding because we have to get just the finishing touches,” he said.
Satisfaction
Mr Asiamah said after visiting the four sites of the SHC projects, the committee members were impressed with the “innovation, creativity and enterprise” that SHC had injected into its operations.
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