Regional News of Monday, 9 July 2012
Source: citifmonline
Gov't must set up body to maintain old structures - Engineers
The Association of Civil and Building Engineering Contractors of Ghana is urging government to set up a regulatory body to ensure proper maintenance and construction of buildings in the country.
Portions of the famous UTC building in the Central Business District of Accra fell over on Sunday dawn though no casualties were recorded.
The over a decade-long old building is presently serving as a home for many businesses at the busy CBD area opposite the LAVA Shop.
In an interview with Citi News, the Chairman of the Technical Committee of the Association of Civil and Building Engineering Contractors of Ghana, Rockson Kwesi Dogbega said the incident should be a wakeup call for government.
“If you put up structures and leave it for over a hundred and a thousand years, what do expect? It will virtually become a death trap” he lamented.
He added that “government has to take stock of all old buildings irrespective of whether it is for government or private and then a proper maintenance culture should be put in place to continually maintain these buildings.”
Mr. Dogbega further noted that if this body is set up, it will make it easy to have a data base for all the old buildings in Accra and across the country for easy maintenance when needed.
He advised that “all buildings are designed to withstand a number of years but in Ghana we don’t take these things into account. It is just about time Ghana wakes up to a good maintenance culture”.**
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