A private engineer, Mahama Abdullai has called on the country’s local assemblies to put more effort into the development of the country and desist from finding quick ways to raise monies for the assemblies thereby destroying the environment.
According to him the slope failures and rockfall which is affecting the Aburi escarpment is as a result of the assemblies shirking of their responsibilities of developing lands through right means.
“Ours is just the sheer irresponsible acts by the assemblies. In this case, I want to put the blame fair and square on the local assemblies for the mess being created on top of the Aburi escarpment. The assembly is dilly-dallying with the situation,” he said on Citi TV’s Current Affairs Programme, The Big Issue.
He said that even though they predicted the rockfall on the Aburi road as far back as 2006 and sent a proposal to government, nothing was done about it.
“I said that we need to declare the escarpment a green zone because back then when I was trying to buy a land at Kitaase, I was told it was a security zone and I could not get permit. So, I had to let it go. Today, how on earth will people be getting permit let alone be constructing such magnificent edifices on the escarpment?” he asked.
Citing an example of the Act 2016 on Permits, which states that, “A person shall not undertake any physical development, of land within a district unless that person has been issued with a permit by the District Assembly within the jurisdiction in which that land is situated”, he further blamed the Assemblies for prioritizing revenue over planning.
He said that a lot of the Assemblies, who issue the permits just want money and have become carefree about development.
Last month, the Ghana Highway Authority was forced to close the Accra bound section of the Peduase-Ayi Mensah road to vehicular traffic following a rockfall on the stretch.
However, the local assemblies whose jurisdictions extend towards the Aburi Mountains have been asked by the Ministry of Roads and Highways, to pull down edifices, to forestall landslides of any form.