I Dare NDC To Construct Just 350 STX Housing Units... � Abu Ramadan

Vice President of the political pressure group, the Alliance For Accountable Governance (AFAG), Abu Ramadan, has vowed not to engage in politics if the ruling party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is able to complete and hand over just 350 out of the projected 30,000 STX housing units. According to him, the writing is clearly on the wall that the much talked about and controversial STX housing project is an exercise in futility. There have been media reports quite recently that the $10billion housing deal between the government of Ghana and STX Korea is on the verge of collapse due to internal bickering among the parties involved in the transaction. This culminated in the Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Hon. Alban Bagbin assuring Ghanaians that STX Ghana will start land preparations for the building project this month. The Minister, who was responding to a question on the floor of the House by Member of Parliament (MP) for Bantama, Cecilia Obeng Dapaah, Ranking Member and Minority Spokesperson on Water Resources, Works and Housing on the state of execution of the STX Agreement, said the company is currently mobilizing all relevant equipment to the site. But contributing to a panel discussion on Peace FM�s �Kokrokoo� Morning Show, the AFAG Veep was emphatic that the project will turn out to be a white elephant and swore to quit politics if the Mills� administration is able to complete just 350 housing units and give it out to the security agencies by November 2012. �If the NDC government led by President Mills is able to construct 350 Housing Units and hand them over to the security agencies by November 2012, I will stop politics. If they are able to build 350 out of the 30, 000 and give it to the police or whichever (security) outfit; I will quit politics. This is a solemn pledge I�m making�I�m not going to behave like Alhaji Bature,� he vowed. Abu Ramadan further stated that he has lost confidence in Hon Alban Bagbin following some inconsistent statements the Honorable Minister has been making concerning the STX housing deal. According to him, the minister always come up with a different timeline anytime he is put on the spot regarding the deal. �It is amazing�Bagbin is carrying the mess started by the former minister at the sector. His comments and responses are making it hard for some of us to believe what he says. I recall that two weeks after the Ground-breaking Ceremony at Tesano (Police Depot) by President Mills, he came out to say that funds for the project have been secured and by the end of that month, the project was going to start. Two months afterwards, he was asked about the time the project was going to commence and he said in two weeks and now he is saying something else again,� he said.