By Godfred A. Polkuu
Bolgatanga, Aug. 5, GNA-The National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Talensi Constituency of the Upper East Region has called on the government to complete the abandoned Affordable Housing Project at Pusu-Namongo, a community in the Constituency.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in November 2019, cut the sod for work to begin on the construction of a 120 Rock Estate Affordable Housing Units in the area to ease the housing deficit in the Region.
After the sod-cutting ceremony, the project expected to meet the accommodation needs of residents and create about 3000 jobs in the area, had only two semi-detached two bedrooms uncompleted houses.
A statement jointly signed by Mr Michael Nangena, the NDC’s Constituency Communications Officer and Mr Augustine Mmi-oni Guure, it Secretary, and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Bolgatanga, questioned if the project was not of importance to the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led government.
“What is more shocking to note is the fact that the government, after reneging on this project, has reportedly cut another sod as recently as August 1, 2023, for the construction of about 8,000 housing units at Pokuase in the Greater Accra Region with the firm promise to deliver in 14 months.
“We are not against the provision of such social infrastructure in any part of Ghana, as evidenced in the P/NDC’s records of the provisions of same, through the SSNIT affordable housing units in the Upper East, Northern, Upper West, and Eastern regions and the Saglemi Housing Project during the Mahama era respectively,” the statement said.
The statement added “We hold the strong view that the government must uphold its commitment and promise to the people of Talensi and the Upper East Region as a whole.
“It is unconscionable that we are witnessing the utter neglect and abandonment of this ambitious project, which the governing party drew a lot of undeserved political capital from its re-election bid in the 2020 general elections,” the statement recalled.
According to the statement, the government’s failure to keep faith with its promise to deliver on the project had left the people of the area unhappy.
It said by abandoning the project, the New Patriotic Party’s government had not only betrayed the trust of the people of Talensi and the Upper East Region, but also jeopardized the people’s access to their farm lands, their source of livelihoods, which was taken away from them without appropriate compensations.
It noted that access to social housing, was critical to sustainable and equitable society at a time when the prices of building materials were out of the reach of many Ghanaians.
The NDC in the Talensi Constituency called on government to rededicate itself to the project, and provide the needed resources to ensure the execution and completion of the same.
GNA