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Aburi Mountain Incident: We will deal with the immediate concern to protect lives and property – RM

The Eastern Regional Minister, Seth Kwame Acheampong said the immediate concern of earth washing onto the main road climbing up from Accra to Aburi Mountain would be addressed as soon as possible to protect lives and property.

Date Created : 7/6/2023 12:00:00 AM : Story Author : Dominic Shirimori/Ghanadistricts.com

He indicated that for immediate solution to the problem, they have spoken to the owner of the property and asked that as a matter of urgency, a solid defense wall be raised to help protect the remaining properties there. "Subsequent to that Engineers would visit the area to certify the structures to see if they are indeed durable to stand the test of time or some actions need to be taken on them".

Additionally, the contractor is also being contacted to speed up his work so there would not be future occurrences.

"For us the main important thing is to protect lives and property so this defense wall is very key to us and we are going to ensure that it is developed as soon as practicable", the Minister affirmed.

According to him, the Ghana Highway Authority that has the competence to determine what needs to be done has been informed about the development and a team comprising the Chief Director of the Ministry of Roads and Highways, Chief Director of the Ghana Highway Authority, and the Greater Accra Regional Director have already assessed the situation.

He added, however that, the general view is to make sure that future approvals by the development committees of the Assembly is done within the confines of land use and special planning measures.

Also, Engineers must give sound reasoning on whether the designs that are going to be erected are sound to stand the test of time because the earth on which these structures would be built have variable strength and we should know whether the underlying earth can support them.

The Regional Minister who was speaking when he visited the scene of Tuesday's incident where portions of the mountain was washed onto the main Accra-Aburi road explained that the immediate challenge was because consistent rains have gotten soaked in the earth and because water would definitely fine its own level wherever it finds itself, that effect cause a failure of the fence wall and washed away the earth it was protecting and that contributed to what was seen on the main road climbing up from Accra to Aburi Mountain.

Another contributing factor is that, the community is also being developed and the drive way in the community is being developed by a certified contractor of the community. "He is building the road structure, the road structure he is building, we have come to realize that some of the sub-based materials he's using to develop the road corridor was also washed away by the run-off and it went through a gulley which is beyond the retaining wall. These two combinations resulted in what was deposited on the road, he stated.

He said the coordinating council together with its advisors including engineering coordinating team periodically meets quarterly, and they have already raised issues with this ridge as to how development needs to be controlled and managed.