Ga Central Assembly, residents on collision course over construction of drains

The construction of open drains at Awoshie A-Lang (near Mary Lucy Hospital) by the Ga Central Municipal Assembly in the Greater Accra Region has sparked a row over the weekend between the residents and the local authorities.

The assembly has blocked all access roads to the community, while constructing the drains to address the perennial flood in the community, a situation that has angered many of the residents.

As a result, residents have no access road to move out of their homes with vehicles or motorcycles. Those who were not home at the time of the construction have to park their vehicles on the streets.

However, the assembly claims their action was to create a pathway for water to flow during the rainy season to prevent floods.

Commercial vehicle drivers living in the area have been forced out of business since they have no way of leaving their homes to work.

The only access route to the community is by a wooden footbridge laid over the open drain constructed by the assembly.

In an interview with the Ghanaian Times, the residents said the local authorities, in solving the flood problem, had created another problem for them and blamed the authorities for not consulting them before constructing the drains.

“If they had consulted us, we would have agreed on a proper plan to construct the drains while constructing access roads to our community,” said Esther Jamadoh, a resident in the area.

She said the poorly planned drains constructed by the assembly had put all the residents in great danger, since there were no access roads to their homes in emergency situations.

“If there is fire outbreak in one home for instance, all of us will be affected. There will be no access road for fire fighters to access our community to douse the fire,” she said

Another senior resident in the area threatened to take legal action against the assembly if the authorities failed to construct access roads to their community.

“We can no longer leave our homes with our vehicles. We have cars but we leave our homes, cross footbridge to join public transport. The assembly needs to address this problem because things cannot continue like this”

“If someone is seriously sick for instance, there is no way for an ambulance to come to the community. Those of us with cars cannot take the person to hospital in the case of an emergency,” he said.

The assemblyman of the area, Emmanuel EboEssandoh, explained that the community experienced severe flood which always led to the destruction of properties and, sometimes, deaths.

According to him, the assembly decided to address the problem with the construction of drains, adding that the engineers had to block the access roads to create pathways for water during rainy seasons.

He admitted, however, that the assembly, unfortunately, failed to consult the residents before constructing the drains in the area.

He urged the residents to exercise restraint and pledged to meet the Landlords Association in the area to find a possible solution to the problem.

MrEssandoh also promised to take the matter to the assembly to ensure that access roads are created for residents to move to their homes with vehicles.

By Yaw Kyei