Regional News of Saturday, 8 July 2017

Source: GNA

Encroachers at Green Belt to suffer - AMA

AMA is taking legal steps to demolish structures at the East Legon Green Belt AMA is taking legal steps to demolish structures at the East Legon Green Belt

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) is taking legal steps to demolish all structures at the East Legon Green Belt.

It said the developers of the structures would be surcharge with the cost of the demolition.

This follows an Accra High Court ruling in favour of the East Legon Residents Association for the Land Commission, AMA and the Environmental Protection Agency to pull down all structures at the Green Belt.

The notice was given in a statement signed by Mr Sam Ayeh-Datey, the AMA Metropolitan Co-ordinating Director and copied the Ghana News Agency on Friday.

It said in the judgement, the High Court held among others that, the Green Belt was a public land zone, an environmentally sensitive and an ecologically important area, which must be preserved for the benefit of Ghanaians including future generations.

The statement said on April 13, the Accra Metro Security Committee headed by the AMA Chief Executive, Mohammed Adjei Sowah issued a 21-day ultimatum to the encroachers in the area to cease all building activities at the Green Belt.

The developers who were not happy with the order also filed a writ seeking to restrain the Assembly from demolishing the structures.

The statement said whilst the AMA was taking steps to set aside the said writ, it has observed that the developers/encroachers had taken advantage of the situation and continued to erect structures with impunity at the Green Belt.

The AMA said: “Clearly, the activities of the developers/encroachers at the East Legon Green Belt constitute flagrant disobedience of the judgement of the High Court, hence the notice.”