Achimota Forest residents want building rules enforced (video)
Some residents of the Achimota Forest Residential Area in Accra, have expressed concern about the putting up of commercial facilities including warehouses in the area strictly demarcated as residential.
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They have accordingly called on the Ayawaso Sub Metro to enforce building regulations so as to help save lives in the area, which is close to Dimples and adjacent the N1 Highway.
The call followed the collapse of a fence wall of a warehouse at the weekend which resulted in the destruction of other people’s property in the area.
The warehouse, which was still under construction according to the residents was sitting on a waterway, as a result when it rained, water gathered behind the fence wall and forced it to collapse, destroying the fence wall of the adjoining house as well.
Mr Kofi Asante, a retired civil servant at the area, whose fence wall was also damaged as a result of the collapse of the that of the warehouse told Daily Graphic, the warehouse project started in the last quarter of 2016 and even though he has complained to building inspectors at the Ayawaso Sub Metro, they seem oblivious of the danger associated with allowing the development to go ahead.
The owners of the warehouse, he said have been stocking ceramic tiles at night, and that they have been carting goods directly from the port for storage at the place.
The area, he argued was purely a residential area and that storey buildings are not even allowed to be put up and therefore wondered why the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) would allow such lawlessness to go ahead.
The presence of commercial buildings in residential areas he said, continues to put lives of residents at risk and even though building inspectors at the Ayawaso Sub Metro, has told him they have not given a permit for the project, they have also failed to act.
“How can we develop if we continue to run a country like this, what is the point in zoning and somebody comes in to do whatever he likes…they have even taken away my wind since the warehouse is blocking the wind from blowing into my house,” he said.
Mr Asante’s wife, Mrs Vida Asante on her part said it was by God’s grace that no casualty was recorded since there was nobody at home at the time of the incident,
Nonetheless, it destroyed properties worth thousands of Ghana cedis. The collapse of the wall also caused huge cracks in the other part of the fence wall of the other house.
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Watch a video of the incident below
