Dr John Amaglo, President of Ghana Institution of Surveyors, has disclosed that, its report on the Saglemi Housing Project report is valid.
According to him, the Architectural and Engineering Services Limited will help validate findings from the Institution.
Additionally, he explained that, the Housing Minister has authorised AESL to conduct the validation of findings in its report.
His comments follow an order by Housing Minister entreating AESL to validate the report by the Ghana Institution of Surveyors.
“As a professional institution and I will repeat it here again that our integrity is at stake here. So, I can say that any work that emanates from the institution can be validated by any other institution that has the capacity to validate our reports.
“Any institution that has the capacity to get hold of the report and do the independent audit. I am saying that they will come to the same finding that we have in the report”.
Validity of Saglemi Housing Report
Dr Amaglo insisted that, the request for an audit by the Housing Minister does not put their reputation in jeopardy.
He further maintained that it does not suggest the said report is “inappropriate.”
“The fact that the Honorable Minister requested AESL to validate our report does not mean our report is not appropriate or is tainted with any political misconception. Any political institution that is trying to discuss this issue will come to only one conclusion. Because the issues are on the ground”.
Dr. Amaglo averred that despite the difficulty in accessing relevant documents from AESL, his outfit thoroughly wrote the report.
“It is only fair to say that our report says something about the Architectural and Engineering Services Limited. They were the original consultants for the project and for that matter, when we were given the go ahead to do the project audit, we found it difficult in accessing some of the documentations we need. So we had to go and do everything from the scratch.
“So, if our report will go to the same entity to validate our report, I will not have anything to say. But there should be a reason behind sending our report to an entity which is part of the original project for validation”.
Dr. Amaglo
Saglemi Housing project riddled with corruption
Meanwhile, Housing Minister, has revealed that the Saglemi housing project is in a poor state due to corruption. He further revealed that lack of proper planning by politicians has also accounted for the corruption level.
Mr. Asenso believes the current stance of entrusting politicians with affordable housing projects has worsened the housing deficit.
The government has come under strict scrutiny over the failure to operationalise the over 1,000 housing units.
That notwithstanding, Mr. Asenso believes that the current challenges was avoidable. According to him, the proposed National Housing Authority would have solved the challenges facing affordable housing projects.
He further underscored the need not the entrust housing projects in the hands of politicians. Mr. Asenso insisted that, this is to ensure continuity in “addressing housing problems”.
“If you are not lucky and find an unscrupulous politician in office, the end result is what we have at Saglemi.”
“In doing all that we intend to do, we also believe that there is a huge institutional gap in housing deliberation in this country. I don’t believe in putting housing development in the hands of politicians because I believe that it’s a technical job”.
Mr. Asenso
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