Don’t block waterways with buildings – Tema West MCE cautions residents
The Tema West Municipal Chief Executive(MCE), Felicia Edem Attipoe, has cautioned residents against building in areas that obstruct the path of water flowing into drains.
During a visit to assess the impact of the flooding within her territory, the MCE expressed concern over structures built in waterways.
“It rained heavily, and today, my team and I came here to see, and as it is, there are issues. Homes were flooded and all that. We decided to come and talk to them as well and see the impact. There are some issues that we need to address immediately. The assembly can quickly handle some matters, like drainage, and hold a town hall meeting.
“And also talk to them about how best we can all collaborate and do the work well. What does the assembly have to do immediately is the drainage, today and tomorrow we will be fixing it.
“It’s more of communicating to them and letting them understand they don’t have to build on the waterways. They should understand and evacuate immediately because I understand the rains coming are quite serious. So, if we don’t evacuate immediately, there will be issues. We have to get the people involved, communicate to them, make them understand and we take it up from there,” Ms Attipoe noted.
The MCE also stated that most of the houses were not constructed by professional contractors.
She also assured that the drainage system in the area would be dredged and maintained for the benefit of the residents.
“We’re on the ground; we are here to serve the people, and we will make sure that everybody is comfortable. But we also need the residents’ support. Everybody wants to build, and yes, it’s good to build, but are you building the right way? Are you building in the right place? I urge residents that our doors are open, they should come and discuss with us.
“We realized that most of the buildings were constructed by non-experts; they just get people to do it without permits, and it is causing problems. We have to do the dredging, and some have been built close to the drainage. When we do the dredging, where are we going to put the materials? And these are buffer lands people have built on,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) has advised the public to brace themselves for more rainfall, particularly in Southern Ghana.
The agency said the rains are likely to be moderate or severe and will come with strong winds that are likely to bring destruction, ripping off roofing sheets and possibly taking down tree branches.