Housing scheme failure scandalous

I READ with dismay the K40 million controversial housing scheme in The National (March 20 and 21). 
It could be one of the most controversial government scandals and I call on the Task Force Sweep to investigate and recoup the squandered public money by unqualified contractors.
What outraged me most is the contractor is still waiting for another K11 million when only 10 medium-cost houses had been completed and at an astronomical cost of K39 million.
A simple calculation would show that the type of kit houses would cost less than K200,000 each.
The money spent on the actual project would therefore be less than K2.5 million.
Where is the rest of the K36.5 million?
I am totally disgusted by the blame game, finger pointing and comments of Sir Frederick Reiher  that the government failed to comply with the contract agreement for the release of the K11 million to complete the project.
How does such a huge amount of money get dished out to one single contractor by NEC under the old government in 2008?
I have no clue whether the contractor was appointed through a public tender process.
The previous government failed – whether knowingly or otherwise – to ensure that professional management consultants were brought in to oversee the project given the huge amount of public money, rather than have the whole sum going straight to the contractor.
The funds should have been chanelled to set up a long-term mechanism or framework for a suitable housing development scheme or a credit scheme organisation where proper policies or guidelines were in place so that on-going yearly government funding and its targeted number of houses could be achieved.
At the end of the day, more than 600,000 public servants nationwide are victimised by the never-ending blame game between the contractor and the government.
Finally, the K39 million could have been used to build houses for doctors or apartment blocks to cater for the housing needs of public servants.

Cherket Jerry
Lae