LEKMA ORDERS CLOSURE OF UNDERGROUND WELLS (PAGE 18, FEB 6, 2010)

The Municipal Security Committee (MUSEC) of the Ledzokuku Municipal Assembly (LEKMA) has ordered the closure of all underground wells which supply water to tankers for sale to the public.
The MUSEC has directed water tanker operators to register with the Assembly and fill their tankers from hydrants operated by the Assembly.
Interacting with the media, the Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Daniel Amartey Mensah, explained that the MUSEC decided to take the action when it found out that activities of underground well operators had posed challenges in the supply of water to residents of the municipality.
He explained that following the shortage of water in the municipality, the MUSEC involved a team of officials from the AVRL, police and the BNI to investigate causes leading to the shortage.
Mr Mensah said during the exercise many illegal connections and water wells which had no authority to operate were discovered.
He said water started flowing through pipelines when the task force detected the illegal connection and disconnected them, indicating that the illegal operators blocked the flow of water to residential areas, putting the health of the people at risk because there were no access openings to enable the operators to wash the wells.
Mr Mensah said the Assembly had met with the tanker drivers and operators of the wells and urged them to register with the Assembly and operate with waybills to legalise their operation.
He said the Assembly would, with support from the police, mount temporary barriers to check the waybills to ensure that the operators heeded to the directive.
Mr Mensah disclosed that the Assembly had put in place many strategies to ensure that there was discipline in the municipality.
He said these included the demolition of unauthorised structures which continued to spring up daily on government lands.
Mr Mensah explained that the municipality experienced massive flooding last year because of the siting of unauthorised structures on watercourses.
He appealed to residents to remove unauthorised structures to avoid being demolished.
Mr Mensah stated that owners of the structures would be made to pay for the cost involved in the demolition because in most cases the Assembly would have to rent heavy equipment to undertake the exercise.
He noted that the affected structures had already been marked with final warnings and stressed that the Assembly would not give any warnings again, adding that “the Assembly has given them ample time”.
Mr Mensah said structures on road shoulders reserved for drivers would also be demolished to make roads accessible to drivers who stopped for passengers.
He said refuse management had posed a lot of challenges to the Assembly because it had affected its financial standing.
Presently, he said, LEKMA conveyed refuse generated in the municipality to Sabah at Weija in the Ga South District.
Mr Mensah said LEKMA was working closely with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to prepare the Teshie Composite site, which is 75 per cent complete, for use.
He appealed to the management of the school feeding programme to extend the programme to the 28 basic schools in the municipality which were not benefiting from it.
Mr Mensah explained that there were 40 basic schools in the municipality but at moment only 12 were benefiting from the feeding programme.