Fears among a section of the public that the STX housing project will be a fiasco were Monday allayed when President John Evans Atta Mills gave an indication that the government was looking for alternative sources of funding to bring the project on stream. President Mills acknowledged that the STX housing project was beset with legal problems and boardroom wrangling which made it difficult for it to commence as expected. Responding to questions on the status of the housing project at the third media encounter at the Castle in Accra Monday, the President gave an assurance that the government was pursuing alternative means of securing funds for the project. “Very soon we will come up with the alternative,” he stated. The event was in line with the President’s pledge to manage the affairs of state in an open, honest and transparent manner. Although President Mills cut the sod for the commencement of the project in January 2011, boardroom wrangling between the Koreans and their Ghanaian partners has stalled the construction of 200,000 housing units in the country at a cost of $10 billion. On the issue of the affordable housing project initiated by the Kufuor administration, President Mills said the government was considering proposals submitted by a group of people to complete the buildings for use. He expressed regret that the issue regarding the affordable housing project had come to the present state and gave an assurance that all would be done to provide decent and affordable accommodation for the people. Answering questions on the recent hike in the prices of petroleum products, President Mills said the increases were one of the painful exercises “we have to make”. He said with the current world crude price and other considerations, the government had no alternative but to increase the prices of petroleum products and urged Ghanaians to bear with the situation. “That must be done to save a bigger situation when the time comes for a leader to take a painful decision. I wish we had the resources to maintain the prices at the lower level,” he said.