Ga Central Municipal Assembly engages with residents on pending demolition exercise
The Ga Central Municipal Assembly last Thursday, held a stakeholders engagement forum with residents of the municipality to sensitise them on the impending demolition, to forestall flooding associated with the rains.
The forum was also used to educate residents not to build on waterways and to resort to appropriate channels through the assembly before embarking on projects.
It was attended by officials of the assembly, assembly members, resident associations, opinion leaders.
In his opening remarks, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Basiru Mohammed, said the impending action was a directive from the government to local authorities to address the incidents of flooding and loss of lives during heavy rains.
He said flooding would always happen if there were impediments in waterways with the knock-on effect of loss of life and property.
The Ga Central MCE urged the residents to cooperate with the assembly in the conduct of the exercise since it was for their own good.
He disclosed that drones had been employed to facilitate the location of waterways and buildings obstructing the watercourses.
That, according to him, needed the cooperation and collaboration of all residents to be able to achieve the desired standards in the municipality, adding that residents should stick to regulations and bye-laws of the assembly to avoid such problems.
The MCE said though the assembly did not take delight in demolishing property, it was faced with the “necessary evil to save life and property.”
“We have done a wide and fair assessment and taken inventory of flood prone areas and buildings on waterways and this would help us free the area of floods,” he said.
Asked whether the exercise was being done with some human face, he said it was the reason landlords and occupants had been notified with letters and buildings had been marked ahead of time.
He assured residents that by the end of the exercise, the problem would have been brought to its barest minimum, adding that the Assembly was poised for action.
He duly acknowledged residents who had used their personal funds to mitigate some of the challenges in their areas, saying that residents associations should be strengthened for good causes.
The MCE said the assembly had prioritised the exercise over school projects because it concerned life and property.
All the untarred roads, he said would be graded in the interim after the rains to allow motorists a smooth passage.
The Municipal Urban Roads Engineer, Mr John Armah, said it was important that the watercourse took a straight course without meandering its way, adding it was the surest way of avoiding floods.
BY NORMAN COOPER