About 85 percent of buildings constructed in the Awutu Senya East Municipal Assembly, are without permit, Ing. Isaac Ofori has disclosed. He was speaking in an interview with Rainbow Radio’s Banahene.

According to him, the figure was reached after research conducted by his office.

He said, it is my desire to ensure that residents in Kasoa are prevented from putting up structures without building permit.

He said, ‘’I want to ensure that residents get permit before building or putting up a structure.’’

He explained, there were three categories namely; those who have completed their buildings, those that were still under construction and those who were yet to start. And out the number, 85 percent are without permit, he added.

He said his office has notified the offenders as required by law and will take the necessary steps to resolve the problem.

The laws of Ghana (both the Towns Act and the Local Government Act) prohibit the construction of unauthorized buildings

And when such is identified, the appropriate state Authority may give notice in writing in a form prescribed by the law to the owner, occupier or developer of the building.

The notice will require the owner, occupier or developer to provide the Authority, within a specified time, with a statement in writing signed by the owner, occupier or developer or his/her duly authorised representative.

The written statement must explain why the building, structure or work should not be removed, altered or pulled down. If the owner, occupier or developer fails to comply with the notice within the specified time, the Authority may carry out the removal, alteration or pulling down, and recover the expense of the removal, alteration or pulling down from the owner, occupier or developer, as if it were a debt due from that person to the Authority. And since it is a debt, the Authority may commence legal proceedings to recover it. The Towns Act further prescribes that the offending party’s building materials obtained from the demolition exercise can be sold and the proceeds applied in payment of the expense incurred by the District Planning Authority in removing the unauthorized structure.

HOW TO AVOID PUTTING UP AN UNAUTHORIZED BUILDING

The National Building Regulations, which was passed pursuant to the Local Government Act, sets out certain procedures a person must follow before building, making structural alterations to a building or executing any works or installation of any fittings in connection with any building. The procedures are as follows: ·

The person must have a land title certificate if the area is in a registration district such as Accra, Kumasi, Tema and Winneba; and if the area is in a non-registration district, the person’s deed must be registered.

The building plans must be submitted alongside the title deeds and they must give details of the sections, elevations, calculations, drawings and specification of materials to be used for the proposed building among other things.

If the person intends to build in a metropolitan or urban area, the building must be designed by an architect, acting in consultation with a civil engineer, a structural engineer, and a professional builder (this excludes draughtsman, a licensed building surveyor, a building technician with a qualification lower than a higher technician diploma).

The Authority must acknowledge receipt of an application for building permit within seven (7) days of receipt and must communicate its decision (granted or refused) on the application to the person within three (3) months. If a person is not informed of the grant or refusal of his/her application after three (3) months has lapsed, the person may commence development on the basis that the application is acceptable to the Authority.

A building permit is usually valid for a period of five (5) years and can be renewed upon expiry.