Illegal sand winners destroy Blue Skies 100 acres of land
Illegal sand winners operating within the Asuboi area in the Ayensuanu District in the Eastern Region have destroyed a 100-acre land belonging to the Blue Skies Company Limited.
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Blue Skies, which produces fresh fruit drinks, acquired the land in 2018 to be developed into an ultramodern factory with water and electricity systems to serve its surrounding communities.
Currently, Blue Skies’ factory, which is located at Doboro near Nsawam does not have the required land for expanding the factory.
Land acquisition
The company, therefore, acquired the land at Asuboi for the construction of a similar factory with water and electricity systems to serve the surrounding communities.
The company planned to invest £25 million in the land to create jobs for over 4,000 unemployed youth.
The Head of Foundation and Corporate Affairs at the Blue Skies Company, Alistair Dsimatey described the activities of the sand winners as purely criminal since the traditional rulers in the area had denied any knowledge of the problem.
Mr Dsimatey said the company was, therefore, deciding to abort the project due to the level of destruction of the land.
He explained that the damage caused to the land would require a heavy financial outlay which would be too much for the company to bear.
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Mr Dsimatey said such situations had the potential to drive away investors.
Land allocation
He said in the interim, the company has allocated portions of the land which had not been destroyed by the sand winners to 50 farmers in the area for the cultivation of various crops such as maize, plantain, cassava among others.
Mr Dsimatey stated that the issue had been reported to the police for investigation and to further ensure that the degradation would not happen again.
He urged the police to do their best and bring the perpetrators to book.
Land description
A farmer, Joseph Kumaku, who had been farming on the land for many years told the Daily Graphic that the illegal sand winners invaded portions of the land and destroyed his crops.
He said after confronting them, they agreed to pay him some compensation.
Mr Kumaku indicated that instead of them paying him GH₵7000 for the number of crops destroyed as agreed, he was rather given GH₵2000 which he described as woefully inadequate.
He, therefore, called on the government and the security agencies to as a matter of urgency intervene to stop people from destroying farmlands in the district.
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