Environmental Scientist, Professor Chris Gordon, has called on Government to develop and implement stronger policies to stop people from building on dangerous areas.
The Scientist who described the recent directive by authorities for the demolition of structures on the Aburi mountain as a weak measure said the real solution lay with the policymakers.
The local assemblies whose jurisdictions span the Aburi Mountains were urged by the Ministry of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako Attah, to pull down structures, if need be, in a bid to forestall landslides of any form.
In an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show, Professor Gordon stated that the implementation of developmental policies would be a better solution.
“We are in deep trouble in every single subsect because we are not implementing or developing policies based on evidence. You cannot build on top of a rock which is made of sandstone and is already fractured. It is not as if it is granite, as we have in the Shai which is a solid rock that you can anchor your foundation on, this is not the type of rock that you can even use as a building material because it is not stable.”
Sometimes it beats me and I think the only thing we can do as media is to continue to educate and raise the awareness of the Ghanaian public of the fact that using short term solutions to fix long term problems never ever works”.
This comes after indications that the many construction works up the hill are responsible for the frequent incident of rockfall on the Aburi-Accra road.
In barely two weeks, two rockfall incidents have occurred, leading to a temporary closure of the Accra bound section of the Aburi – Ayi Mensah road.
The latest rockfall was on Sunday, October 27, 2019.
Many have suggested that the various building projects on the mountain should be blamed for the rockfall.