KMA pulls down building at Anwomaso
A storey building of 24 storerooms under construction at Anwomaso, a suburb of Kumasi, has been demolished by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) .
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The demolition of the building, which belonged to the Anwomaso Traditional Council, has sparked a row between a group calling itself the Concerned Youth of Asante and the assembly.
In a press statement released last Wednesday, the group accused the KMA of wrongfully pulling the property down. The building was located near the main lorry terminal at Anwomaso.
According to a statement signed by the spokesman for the group, Nana Agyenim Boateng, the KMA approached the Anwomaso Traditional Council for a piece of land to be used for a lorry terminal.
It said the chief of the town, Nana Osei Boa III, agreed to release land to the KMA on condition that a police post would be included as part of the project, to which the KMA acceded.
"Another demand was for the KMA to allocate a portion of the land to the Anwomaso Stool for the construction of storerooms to generate revenue for the council," It said.
It said even though the chief of Anwomaso had gone through all the legal requirements, including paying GHc15,000 to the assembly for a building permit, the assembly had demolished the building.
City Engineer reacts
But in a rebuttal, the Metropolitan Engineer with the KMA, Mr Emmanuel Anderson, has denied the claim,saying that the developer did not have a building permit.
He said since there was no permit covering the construction of the building it was deemed to be an illegal undertaking and was thus pulled down.
Although Mr Anderson admits that the assembly received GHc15,000 from the traditional council, it was agreed that the assembly would keep the money until it received a lease from the council after which a building permit would be given.
Mr Anderson said the assembly was surprised to see the building coming up when no building permit had been issued.
He said the money that was paid in lieu of the building permit was returned to the council when it became clear the council was not ready to fulfil its part of the bargain.
“There were 23 warnings given for work on the building to cease and yet the council did not pay heed and continued to build,” he said.