Managers of the Weija Dam, the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), are complaining about the continuous siting of structures within its buffer zones.
The company is worried that people residing within its catchment area have ignored cautions about the dangers associated with their stay in such communities especially when the Weija dam is spilled.
Speaking to Citi News, Communications Director of the Ghana Water Company Limited, Stanley Mantey, urged authorities to enforce the law.
“Assuming that the buffer zone was clear, we wouldn’t have had any problem because people will be living in safe places. Where these people are living are not good, and we have been talking about it for the past 20 years yet every year, we see new buildings springing up. Why should it be so? The authorities at the municipal level are unable to do what is expected of them. It is sad because every year, we need to spend money to educate people and support displaced people”, he lamented.
Most communities along the Weija dam are usually displaced following the spillage of the dam every year.
Residents close the dam have refused to relocate despite the destruction of properties when the spillways of the dam are opened.
The affected communities include Tetegu, Oblogo, Pambros Salt, Lower McCarthy Hill, Lower Weija, Bojo Beach, Ada Kopey and surrounding communities.
Looming mudslide
Already, a road and building consultant, Ing. Abdulai Mahama has predicted a mudslide along a portion of the Accra-Weija following the continuous flooding that usually arises from the dam spillage.
Ing. Mahama wants authorities to act immediately to prevent a disaster in the near future.
“We may still see silt coming down to a height that may be possibly more than a meter. And with a meter silt deposition across the road, no vehicle can go and that will take a longer time for movement of vehicles to be restored. Some vehicles may see the movement of those mudslides immediately as it starts but those houses that are very close cannot move, and they will be at the mercy of the mudslide,” he said.
