Aburi mountain to be declared a ‘green zone’ to halt real estate developments

The Akuapim South District Assembly says it plans to declare the Aburi Mountain a green zone and strictly enforce regulations to protect the area.

It said the move is to ensure that real estate developments in the area are not carried out haphazardly.

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.

The Planning Officer for the assembly, James Abugre in an interview said by next month, the Assembly will complete modalities for the area to be declared a green zone and all persons who own lands in the area will be notified about the new development.

“We’re going to declare the place a green zone area. We have taken that decision and so we are now putting in place the modalities and documents in place to engage everybody. Any who owns land or buys land along that stretch will not be allowed to put up any structure. By next month, the assembly will act on that. You may own a land there but we are to regulate whatever you put up there and we are going to enforce this,” he said.

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.

An engineer, Mahama Abdulai, recently warned of more rock falls on the Accra-Aburi road in the Eastern Region, should the Akuapem South Assembly continue to allow construction activities on the slope or the peak of the Aburi Mountain.

He said such developments on the hill weaken the mountain’s rock formation and allow water to penetrate cracks, causing the particles to fall.

He further noted that any attempted engineering solution such as holding the foot of the mountain with a metal mesh will not work if estate developers on the mountain are allowed to continue building.

“When we are trying to do an engineering solution and we ignore what is happening up the slope, it will lead us no where. The Akuapim South Assembly has to sit up and stop the construction of buildings around the peak of the escarpment. When the surface is disturbed as it is now, there are segmentation in the rock and anytime it rains, water will infiltrate those fragments and make the materials loose.”