Tema to celebrate 50th anniversary

THE Tema Development Corporation (TDC) is gearing up for the 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of modern Tema.

Tema, the home of Ghana’s first most modern harbour and foremost industrial town assumed its present status in 1952, under a major development initiative and foresight of Ghana’s first President.

The township happens to be the closest human settlement on the intersection of the two most significant imaginary lines that divide the world into two equal halves, the Greenwich Meridian and the Equator.

Originally, Tema was a cluster of fishing villages founded by group of immigrant Ga fishermen and farmers who journeyed eastward in search of new settlements and farmlands.

The settlements became known as Torman (literally meaning Gourd Town) due to the gourd trees which earlier settlers planted but was later corrupted to Tema. With the construction of the Akosombo Dam to provide energy for the industrial development of the nation, the then government put in motion the plan, to create an industrial enclave served by a modern harbour and a well laid-out township for prospective workers.

Thereafter, the indigenes of Tema were resettled at Tema Manhean (Newtown) to pave way for the government’s projects which were to make Tema the nerve centre of the nation’s commerce and industry through the TDC.

The TDC acquired 64 square miles of land from the traditional stools of Tema, Nungua and Kpone and began the development of the first well laid-out township in the West Coast of Africa.

Presently, Tema boasts of big time companies like VALCO, Tema Oil Refinery, Ghana Cement Works, Unilever, Cocoa Processing, Nestle and a host of other medium to small scale companies. The development of the Kpone Free Zone enclave is also underway.

Between the 1960s and 1970s, the TDC made a significant progress by developing 10 communities and a substantial area within the industrial belt.

However, its initial projection of providing for 250,000 inhabitants in 23 communities by 1985 was not realised due to the withdrawal of government’s subsidy and other financial support packages.

These constraints not withstanding, the TDC has managed to develop a significant portions of its lands bringing its communities in the near future. It has also significantly changed its role as direct developers as well as the development of TDC houses for sale.

Apart from its own housing developments, the TDC has facilitated the construction of a further 4,000 housing units through institutions like the Social Security and the National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), the National Trust Holding Company and other private developers like Regimanuel Gray and Parakou Limited.

For the future, the corporation is exploring areas of co-operation and joint ventureship to provide more housing units for its numerous customers. Although the TDC has been faced with problems like encroachments on its acquisition areas and the erection of unauthorised structures, it has cause to celebrate 50 years of its existence and commitment towards providing decent accommodation for both Ghanaians and expatriates within Tema and its environs.

The anniversary which is to take off in the last quarter of the year will be marked with floats, tree planting and clean-up exercises, exhibitions, durbars, inter-schools and community sports, lectures, symposiums and carnival, among others.