Teshie Concerned Citizens Association commends Road and Highways Minister

The Teshie Concerned Citizens Association (TCCA) has commended the Minister of Roads and Highways Mr Kwesi Amoako Atta for the proactive response to its concerns over the construction of illegal structures along the waterways and reserved road.

On April 29, the group petitioned the Minister to stop the illegal construction taking place at the Teshie Bush road along the Kpeshie River which is reserved as water and roadway.

The Minister after the receipt of the petition constituted a committee to assess the developments at the Teshie Bush road.

The committee was constituted of Mr. Philip Lartey, Director in charge of Public-Private Partnership, Ministry of Roads and Highways, Mr Francis Ahlidza, Deputy Director, Monitoring & Evaluation, Ministry of Roads and Highways, and Ms Anthea Phanos, Assistant Director of Administration Ministry of Roads and Highways.

The others were Mr Alex Asamoah, Department of Urban Roads, Mr Benjamin Adomah, Department of Urban Roads, Martin Essilfie, Ledzokuku Municipal Assembly, LEKMa office to look into the matter.

The team was led by the Chairman of TCCA, Mr Seth Tagoe, to tour the area on Thursday, May 14 to examine the ongoing illegal projects and other developmental issues within the Teshie Camp, Bush Road, Demo, and Rasta area.

In a statement Mr Seth Tagoe, Chairman, Teshie Concerned Citizens Association, said the illegal construction on the waterways was of serious concern to residents and several efforts to stop the various construction has proven futile.

The statement said last attempt to stop the illegal construction was in 2009 by the Ledzokuku Krowor Municipal Assembly (LEKMA), the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police Service, which pulled down all structures along the waterways because they were posing severe flooding dangers to residents in the area.

It said although the demolition exercise was met with strong protest by the occupants of the site, but the resilient forces proceeded and pulled down those structures to save the river, the community and the people within the catchment area.

The statement said “After one-decade lull and without protecting or fencing the site, some recalcitrant opportunists have started building openly without a permit ...,” the statement said.

The statement drew attention to the death of a female medical doctor in the area last year, when she was carried away in her car by strong currents of rushing floodwaters, which eventually killed her and the unborn child.

“We have confidence in the Minister that he is committed to address our issues immediately especially since the rain is coming soon and flooding is inevitable and also to prevent a planned demonstration by the residents,” it added.