A survey conducted by the Physical Planning Department (PPD) of the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) has revealed that 36 percent of buildings in the metropolis did not have building permits.

The Head of the PPD of the Town and Country Planning of the STMA, Mr Ebenezer Dadzie Paintsil, said the Department as part of the survey visited 300 public and complex structures in four sub-metropolitan areas in the metropolis.

He made this known during a stakeholders’ meeting at Sekondi on Thursday, to assess the outcome of the survey conducted last year.

Mr Paintsil said the Assembly would drastically deal with real-estate developers that flout the Assembly’s bye-laws on building permits and advised would-be developers to be law-abiding citizens to avoid sanctions.

He entreated the media to cooperate with the Assembly by educating the citizenry to follow proper channel in acquiring building permits to ensure successful implementation of the recommendations in the Housing Survey Appraisal report.

The acting Mayor of the STMA, Captain (Rtd) Anthony Cudjoe, said the the Assembly would soon undertake decongestion exercise at the Central Business District of Takoradi.

He said traders and hawkers that occupy pedestrian pathways at the Takoradi Market Circle, Nazaria Junior High School and other unapproved places in the metropolis would be relocated to the Apremdo Market.

He said the decongestion exercise would be sustained to improve both human and vehicular movements in the metropolis.

Captain Cudjoe entreated the media to desist from over politicization of the exercise and rather focus on its national interest to ensure the development of the area.

The Metropolitan Works Engineer, Charles Ampomah-Mensah, said plans are underway to renovate the Takoradi Market structures in view of its deplorable state and assured the public that work on the market would start by the end of March.