CCMA to demolish all dilapidated buildings in Cape Coast – MCE

The Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly (CCMA), together with relevant agencies, will embark on a massive exercise to demolish all dilapidated buildings within the ancient city, Mr George Justice Arthur, the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), has said.

He explained that the move was to avert further disaster in the wake of the rains which is ravaging many communities in the Central Regional Capital.

The decision follows the collapse of an old storey building at London Bridge, a suburb of Cape Coast, which killed two people and severely injured three others during a torrential rain on Saturday.

The five victims were trapped under the rubbles for hours before they were rescued by a joint team of police, NADMO, Ghana National Fire Service, and the Ambulance Service.

The casualties, Madam Ataa Panin, 79 years, and Emmanuel Ankaful, 84 years, were both removed from the rubbles lifeless and confirmed dead on arrival at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital.

Meanwhile the remaining victims are responding to treatment.

The MCE provided DRIP machines to assist the rescue mission, pulling down the remaining portion of the collapsed building.

A resident and eyewitness who identified himself as Kwame told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the building had been in a fragile state for aeons without renovation.

The incident is under investigation to unravel the cause of the disaster, the Central Regional Police Command has said in a statement.

Giving his account at the scene of the incident, the MCE said he visited the community earlier in the day and found that the affected house as well as many other homes had flooded.

Shortly after he left, he was called and informed by community members that the building he visited had collapsed.

“I came back and saw that five people in the house were trapped and so I quickly organised backhoe and other DRIP machines to rescue them.

“Three of them survived and are receiving treatment. But two people, an old man and an old woman were gone when we retrieved them,” he said.

“It is very disastrous, and it is a Black Saturday for the people of Cape Coast,” he added.

In view of that, Mr Arthur assured that all buildings in the same dilapidated state would be demolished.

“We will fight this holistically so that every dilapidated building which is likely to collapse is pulled down before it causes another disaster,” he stressed.

The MCE commended the security agencies and NADMO for their dedication to the rescue mission.

Meanwhile, ADO1 Ebenezer Fiifi Dadzie, the Deputy Regional PRO of the Fire Service, after extricating the victims advised the public to always seek permit from the Assembly and Fire Service before putting up buildings.

“We need to advise them on their building plans and ensure that what is on paper is exactly what they are building. But mostly, people don’t do that, and they also purchase inferior building materials,” he said.

“I advise that we employ qualified engineers and technicians whenever we are building,” he added.

The team later pulled down another dilapidated storey structure about 100 metres away which was also on the verge of collapse following the heavy rains.

Meanwhile, several communities, including Ola, Pedu, Flowers Gay, Ntsin, Amamoma, Eyifua, Ayensu, and Kwaprow were reduced to streams by the floods, destroying many property in homes and shops.

Source: GNA

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