'SODOM AND GOMORRAH' SETTLEMENT SPRINGS UP IN TEMA COMM 3 (PAGE 29, DEC 15)

A 'Sodom and Gomorra' settlement with over 200 wooden structures has sprang up at Tema Community Three.
The settlement in an area demarcated for a buffer zone to absorb gas emanating from the treatment plant where effluent from the township is discharged before flowing into the sea.
The encroachers are suspected to have come from Accra and elsewhere where demolishing and ejectments have taken place.
The Ramseyer site, a conserved wet land stretching along the Sakumono land, has also seen encroachment with wooden structures and mighty well-designed buildings while some people have also demarcated and laid claims to portions of the Mexico Junior High School premises at Community Two.
The Metropolitan Engineer, Mr Victor Mensah, who went round with journalists to witness the extensive encroachment going on in Tema, said the people had ignored all warnings from the Assembly to move from the areas.
He said the Assembly would need the will power to demolish those structures because the actions of the encroachers had violated the development plan for the metropolis.
The structures at the Ramseyer site are situated in watercourses and could obstruct the flow of water during flooding and therefore lead to flooding in other areas of the metropolis.
At the Mexico Junior High School, the head teacher, Ms Joyce Tei, said the encroachers had put up their sleeping places and while school was in session, they relaxed and smoked on the veranda. She said portions of the school park had been turned into roads for nearby residents, stating that occasionally vehicles knocked some of the schoolchildren down.
On the rounds it was observed that some of the structures whose owners had violated the building laws were churches, herbal clinics, sleeping places, hairdressing salons, vehicle workshops.
Mr Mensah said the occupants were asked to produce their legitimate permits which allowed them to live there but noted that for the past two months they had failed to show up.
What they showed to the engineer on the rounds was a permission to operate business there and signed by their association chairman.
Mr Mensah called for a national housing policy to give the nation a clear indication of the number of houses to be built every year.
Mr Mensah said rural-urban migration had also contributed to the population burst in the metropolis and the use of every available space which had been deliberately left for a purpose.
He was not happy that the administrative differences between the Assembly and the Tema Development Corporation had not been solved because residents took advantage of the situation to situate structures anywhere.
Mr Mensah said the Assembly continue to identity other illegal developments to ensure that the metropolis did not become a slum other than what it was planned to be.