Structure on watercourse must go — Adabraka residents

Source: Daily Graphic Ghana - A restaurant located near the Odorna Clinic in Adabraka, whose extension was sitting on a watercourse, has been demolished.

This follows a Daily Graphic publication of June 15, 2015 which said the restaurant was a hindrance to the free flow of water.

This was discovered during a cleanup exercise organised by the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), in collaboration with Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a waste management company in Accra, with support from Papaye Foods Company and Tobinco Pharmaceuticals.

Though the residents, with support from the companies, were able to remove silt from the smaller drains which were connected to the big drain, water could still not flow as the workers could not further clear the big drain because part of the restaurant was sitting on it while other parts were covered with concrete slabs.

However, soon after the publication was made, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) gave the owners of the restaurant an ultimatum to remove the extended property from the watercourse before July 19, 2015.

Owners of the restaurant have, therefore, removed the roofing sheets and broken part of the walls of the extension of the restaurant as a way of complying with the directive.

Business, however, is still ongoing at the restaurant.

Though some residents who spoke to the Daily Graphic said they were happy about the move made by the AMA, they complained that the other part of the restaurant and the storey building were still sitting on the drain and as such the whole building had to be demolished.

According to them, the building was a threat to the free flow of water in the community and mentioned it as a factor for the numerous floods that had occurred in the area which had led to loss of lives and properties.

However, authorities at the AMA said it was the extended portion of the restaurant that was the cause of the floods in the area.

A resident, who did not want to be named, disagreed with the AMA officials, saying: “Any layman can determine that the storey building is sited on a watercourse and must be removed.”