The Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko has described as embarrassing the decision by the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) to backtrack on their opposition to the STX deal. He said the decision was not only bizarre but most unfortunate, given that the association had petitioned Parliament not to approve the housing deal with the Korean company as it was inimical to national economy. On Monday, July 5, GREDA went before the joint committee of Finance and Housing to talk about a petition they presented to Parliament earlier asking the House not to approve the deal. But, GREDA backtracked on their opposition to the STX deal and said that Parliament could pass the STX deal but at the same time consider an alternative deal they presented alongside the STX’s. Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Tuesday, July 06, 2010, Mr Otchere-Darko said it was difficult to understand the rationale for GREDA to ask Parliament to consider their proposition of better deal and at the same time accept that of STX. He said it “is obvious to all onlookers, including me, that something had gone wrong.” “The perplexing aspect of the GREDA u-turn is this. They still presented to Parliament their well-detailed alternative project of 30,000 housing units for the security agencies. Simply put, GREDA said they could provide 5,000 housing units for Government per year at an estimated cost of $90,000. They rounded it all up to say they can build the 30,000 housing project at some $540 million! They went as far to provide estimates of how much will be lost to the consolidated fund through the tax exemptions Government intends to offer to STX. “While GREDA, after some obvious consultations, is no longer willing to be seen to be opposing GREDA, by presenting an alternative at nearly a third of the financial package that the STX model would cost the Government, they have impliedly but effectively shot down STX. So far, STX has not been able to support its credit agreement demands with any details of what it is offering Ghana." Policy think-tank, IMANI Ghana, which has also been very vociferous in its opposition to the STX deal said GREDA’s back-pedaling on the issue constitutes a major failure on the part of the leadership of the association. Senior Fellow at IMANI, Kofi Bentil said virtually nothing had changed in the agreement to justify GREDA’s latest stand on the matter. He said apart from the use of oil as a guarantee which has now been removed from the agreement following the agitations, all other aspects of the agreement remain the same. Story by Malik Abass Daabu