It’s thirty minutes past eleven on a Wednesday at Mile Seven, a suburb of Accra in the Ga West municipality and contractors are busy rebuilding a filing station which was demolished exactly seven months ago.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mile 7 filing station rebuilt months after June 3 flood disaster
This station became the talk of the nation on June 8 2015, just five days after the deadly rain which killed so many, including the 150 people who lost their lives when a Goil fuel station exploded right at the centre of Kwame Nkrumah Circle.
___4536781___https:______static.pulse.com.gh___webservice___escenic___binary___4536781___2016___1___8___12___fl
Recommended articles
The workers toil under the scorching sun in a very dusty environment at the site of the construction. Some are busy excavating algae covered sand while others paint what will eventually be a Goil branded filling station.
Government had to be seen taking an action to prevent another unfortunate event,so it went around the city demolishing houses and fuel stations without permits and also in waterways. And so on June 08 2015 the Mile Seven fuel station was attacked. It was still in construction mode when it was pulled down by the Municipal Assembly.
This video was captured when the filling station was being pulled down five days after the disaster
ADVERTISEMENT
Residents were happy with the actions of the assembly, it would mean their houses will not be flooded any longer. For some it was the sheer location of the fuel station - a very busy commercial area and with the events at Circle a few days back it made a whole lot of sense for the structure to go.
But it’s been seven months and the station is being re-constructed. Some of the residents who could not explain exactly why the station is being reconstructed told me there is nothing they can do about it.
“Well you can see for yourself. We have complained severally and now we don’t know what to do so we are here watching,” a gentleman who sells close to the building told me.
Another resident, Larmi, 72, has been living in his house 50 meters away from the filing station since 1982. The visibly shaking old man tells me “when it (referring to the filling station) catches fire, we will all be in trouble.”
The building as I found out belongs to the wife of the Member of Parliament for Ayawaso East, Nasir Mohammed Toure.
ADVERTISEMENT
One of the supervisors at the site, a dark man of over 6.ft in height who gave his name as Alhaji passionately justified why the demolishing of the structure was unnecessary in the first place. He insisted that no proper assessment was done before pulling down the station.
“The station has nothing to do with the water. Nothing, nothing to do with the water...It is not in a waterway.”
Behind the filling station is a gutter which is also being repaired by the owner of the filling station. It used to be a small gutter with a very weak bridge on top. But now this gutter is being widened with concrete slabs. The bridge is also being reinforced with iron rods.
Alhaji said the gutter is the main cause of the flooding in the area, and hopefully after it the new gutter and bridge is completed the flood situation should be under control.
“All the residents know, even the MCE knows it is the bridge which is the cause,” Alhaji said.
ADVERTISEMENT
He added the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovations who took part in the decision to pull down the station is aware that the station is not in a waterway.
“He knows. He knows exactly what is the problem. The day he came he went to the back (pointing to the back of the filling station where the gutter is) and he saw what is going on.”
He insisted the Minister and the MCE have now given their approvals for the project to continue and the necessary compensation they are due is being discussed.
Questions arising
Why would the MCE of Ga West lead a demolition without any proper assessment of the site only to give the go ahead a few months later after the heat from the June 3 disaster has died down?
ADVERTISEMENT
Why would the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovations also endorse this decision only to change his mind afterwards?
Who should be held responsible for the cost incurred to pull a structure which was going to spring up again in just a matter of weeks?
And who will bear the cost to compensate the wife of the MP for Ayawaso East who owns the station?
Why wasn’t the public given any explanation as to why the filling station is being reconstructed?
Pulse.com.gh reached out to the MCE and the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovations multiple times to hear their views on this but never heard back.
JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!
ADVERTISEMENT
Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:
Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh
Recommended articles
'Incompetent' NDC gave dumsor timetable, NPP with 'the men' is clueless - Kabutey Ocansey
Doctors miraculously save baby girl from dead mother's womb
Asogli State rejects attempts to rename Ho Technical University after Ephraim Amu
Ghanaians call for Dumsor 'demo' to urge Government end erratic power cuts
Law firm’s mistake causes wrong couple's divorce, judge says it can’t be reversed
NIA implements new fees for registration services starting May 1
Prophet Oduro slams government over dumsor: 'What kind of nonsense is this?'
2023 was the hottest year ever — the world is on red alert
