The Ghana Real Estate Development Association (GREDA) is accusing government of paying lip service to the promise of engaging the local contractors to bridge the housing deficit in the country. The Executive Director of the Association Emmanuel Asamoah told Joy News the government has on two occasions sidelined them for foreign companies in the bid to build affordable houses in Ghana. His comments come hours after government announced it was going to build 15,000 housing units for Ghanaians in partnership with the private sector. A deputy minister for Works and Housing, Nii Nortey Dua made the announcement to law makers on Tuesday in a statement to mark World Habitat day and World Day of Architecture. He said the nation is currently saddled with a housing deficit in excess of about 1.5 million which must be bridged. He assured the MPs that government has brokered a deal with some private firms to build over 15 thousand housing unit with more proposals on its way to Parliament. But Emmanuel Asamoah told Joy News all their meetings with government have not been productive. According to him, the government asked GREDA to present proposals as to how they intended to build the new housing units and how to finance it. He said they provided a detailed proposal to government, including a letter from a local bank promising to finance the building projects if GREDA were to be given the contract by government. He said in spite of all that, government still sidelined them for other foreign companies. Asamoah stated that GREDA has the ability and track record to build those houses and called for more support and collaboration from government.