We’ll deal with developers without permit — La Nkwantanang-Madina MCE

The La Nkwantanang- Madina Municipal  Chief Executive (MCE), Jennifer Dede Adjabeng, has said the assembly will deal severely with developers that will be found not to have obtained permits.

That, she said, was to ensure law and order in the area.

“The assembly is ready to hit the ground to take on all developers operating without a permit. Meanwhile, the incident that occurred at the West Adenta Electoral Area is what I describe as an unfortunate situation,” the MCE said.

Briefing the media about a collapsed building in the municipality, the MCE said the developer in question violated the law of the assembly, resulting in an avoidable incident.

Disaster 

According to Mrs Adjabeng, on Monday, May 1 at about 3:00 p.m., she had a distress call from the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) Director of the assembly concerning a disaster which occurred at the West Adenta Electoral Area.

She said when she and her team followed up on the incident, they saw a land developer and his workers trapped in the building that collapsed on them, with one person dead and eight others injured. She said the injured ones were rushed to the 37 Military Hospital for medical attention.

The MCE explained that according to investigations, on April 20, 2023, the workers in the works department of the assembly discovered that the developer was working without a permit and he was consequently summoned to the assembly for him to go through the processes but he blatantly refused the invitation.

Incident

“What caused the incident was that though he left the site when he was cautioned, he decided to use the long weekend, including the Monday, which was a holiday, to work to outsmart the assembly but was unlucky,” the MCE explained.

She said from what they saw at the site as laymen, the concrete was not dry and the developer was adding another storey on top of the building, a situation which brought about the collapse of the structure.

She further explained that once the building collapsed and human life was lost, it became a criminal issue that was being handled by the police.

She said the Municipal Security Council (MUSEC) of the assembly decided to fully collaborate with the police to ensure that the matter was fully investigated and the developer brought to book to serve as a deterrent to other potential developers who would fail to liaise with the assembly.

“We have had many instances where developers took matters into their own hands at the blind side of the assembly and did their own thing.

However, with the current incident as a test case, the assembly would ensure that developers cooperate with us and wait patiently for their documents to be completed. Submission of application alone is not the end of the process,” she insisted.

Institutions

She assured that the assembly would liaise with other state institutions and agencies to determine the actual cause of the collapsed structure, which brought about the loss of life.

The MCE said the assembly was mandated to see to the approval of applications for building permits every month and that there was, therefore, no need to ‘hide’ buildings they intended to put up from the assembly.

“Come to us and let us help you to get your permits to avoid incidents such as what happened in the municipality,” she said.