BUSINESSMAN SUES GPHA OVER BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION

A Tema based businessman, Michael Yeboah, has
dragged the Ghana Ports and Harbours
Authority (GPHA) and ACUMEN CONSTRUCTION, to
a Tema High Court, praying for an order to stop
the two from constructing a bridge to link a
minor road in front of his house.
The plaintiff is also seeking an order directed
at the GPHA to produce an independent Traffic
Assessment Impact/Report and permit from the
Ghana Highway Authority or the Department of
Urban Roads Division of the Tema Metropolitan
Assembly (TMA) and the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA).
In a statement of claim accompanying the writ,
the plaintiff said about some time ago, GPHA,
through the ACUMEN CONSTRUCTION commenced
the construction of a bridge at a spot directly
opposite the gate of his house in order to
connect an existing minor road to both the
coastal and Meridian roads for the convenience
of the ports authority.
According to Michael Yeboah, he complained to
the port authorities which halted the project,
but work has resumed on the construction of the
disputed new bridge.
With the iron works completed, what is now left
is the casting of the concrete which the GHPA
and the contractor are determined to do, in
spite of the dangers the construction of the
bridge will pose to the residents and his
property as well.
Plaintiff is arguing that the GPHA had neither
obtained any independent traffic assessment
impact/report for the project nor has it held
any prior meeting with Ghana Highway Authority
and other relevant statutory bodies, such as the
Environmental Protection Agency to discuss and
obtain their consent before embarking on the
project.
He is contending that his life and property are
being threatened by the action of the two
entities, especially the exact location where the
bridge is being constructed. The disputed site is
a buffer between the GPHA’s premises and the
residential area (Community 2).
Information obtained from a management
source of the Tema Development Corporation
(TDC) indicates that during the construction of
the Port of Tema and the industrial city, the
planners created a buffer zone between the Port
and the residential communities.
The Chronicle gathered that as the Tema Port
was embarking on expansion, GPHA made a
request to TDC for the release of the zone. TDC,
upon receiving the request released the buffer
zone to GPHA.
When The Chronicle contacted the GPHA, a
highly placed source intimated that it had
presented drawings on the project to Urban
Roads, but could not tell whether it was
approved or not. The source further disclosed
that there was no correspondence to EPA with
regard to this project.
Meanwhile, reports from the residents of Tema
Community Two, BBC area, suggest that unless
the port authority does something urgent about
the insanitary conditions prevailing in the BBC
area, there could be an outbreak of epidemic
disease.
This is as a result of the influx of persons from
the land-locked countries – Burkina Faso, Mali
and Niger – who are heavy duty transporters
who park on the zone to wait for the uploading
of their trucks. There are no places of
convenience for the transporters who attend to
nature’s call anywhere they find con