Engineer lambastes private developers

Kumasi, Dec 19, GNA - Mr Charles Ampomah Mensah, the Metropolitan Engineer of Kumasi, has advocated the enactment of proactive laws that would make it mandatory for private projects to be handled by only qualified building professionals at all stages of the construction process whiles the projects also undergoes regular supervision.

"Our byelaws and regulations on building should be critically looked at with the view to making amendments to deter private developers from engaging untrained and wayside technicians with limited knowledge in design, planning and materials", he said.

Mr Mensah said it was quite unfortunate that whereas most government projects had good visual and aesthetic appeal as well as long life span due to the strict adherence to building regulations during the pre and post construction process, the same cannot be said of private projects.

Mr. Mensah, a member of the fact-finding committee commissioned to probe the Asafo O&A Transport Terminal disaster, made the call when briefing Madam Patricia Appiagyei, Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive on the extent of rescue work done so far when she toured the Terminal in Kumasi on Monday.

Two people both driver's mates had so far been confirmed dead following last Friday night disaster which saw the collapse of a four-storey building being put up within the bus terminal of the O&A Travel and Tours Company in Kumasi.

The deceased, whose bodies were retrieved from the rubble of the collapsed building had been deposited at the morgue for autopsy. They are Kwabena Dame, 22, and Yaw Afriyie, 28, both workers of the company. Four other people who also sustained various degrees of injury had been admitted at the hospital for treatment.

Mr Mensah pointed out that it was not true that the building collapsed as a result of its location on a waterlogged land site, saying there was the need for the public to exercise restraint and circumspection to arrive at conclusion of the cause of the disaster since a number of factors could have accounted for the incident. The Kumasi Metropolitan Engineer was hopeful that the fact-finding committee would get to the bottom of the matter to ascertain the cause of the accident so as to explore avenues to curb such occurrences in future.

Madam Appiagyei described the setting up of a committee of stakeholders in the building industry as a step in the right direction by the Ashanti Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) to look into the intermittent collapse of storey-buildings in the region in recent times. =93I believe that there is an urgent need for us to brainstorm to stem the tide of such disasters before the situation gets out of hand=94, she said.

Madam Appiagyei commended the rescue team for their commitment to duty.

She later visited the four injured persons at their various hospitals to wish them speedy recovery.