By Laudia Sawer
Tema, April 27, GNA – The TDC Ghana Limited has held a stakeholder engagement with stakeholders on the massive encroachment on the Sakumo Ramsar Site.
The meeting, which Mr. Courage K. M. Nunekpeku, the Managing Director of TDC, convened followed a recent demolishing exercise by the company at the site as developers were constructing structures in the core of the Sakumo Lagoon.
It brought together key stakeholders such as the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), Tema West Municipal Assembly (TWMA), security agencies, traditional leaders, residents in the Ramsar and surrounding areas, and other interest groups.
The meeting was also attended by Mr. James Enu, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tema West; the Tema West MCE nominee, Mr. Ludwig Teye Totimeh; and Mr. Anthony Nukpenu, a presidential staffer.
Mr. Nunekpeku expressed frustration at what has become a recycling of a solution to the heavy encroachment in the Ramsar Site, stating, “you keep encroaching in the area, and we always come after you with the demolition of the projects in which you have invested your fortune.
“For how long must we go on this path?”
Mr. Nunekpeku noted that all the previous attempts at finding solutions to the problem could not be sustained and therefore pushed strongly for a permanent solution to be reached to conserve the Ramsar site.
He indicated that developers were of the view that because they bought the land from a chief, or persons in the area, they have the right to build there, challenging them to think about the effect of their actions.
He said: “You may think that because you may have bought land from a chief or some persons in the area, you should be given a free hand to develop it.
“Have you asked what the repercussions of your actions are on other residents in the area?
“The rains will come, and areas will be heavily flooded, and all you may do is to buy a bag of rice and a gallon of oil to support the victims who will suffer because of your own actions or inactions.”
Mr. Nunekpeku therefore called on all stakeholders to consider immediately dredging the entire water channel from Santeo to Sakumono as a short-term solution to avert flooding in the area while considering a long-term solution of developing a canal to channel water through the Ramsar area into the sea.
Mr. James Enu, Tema West MP, encouraged the stakeholders to seriously consider the proposals in the interest of all players and come up with suggestions to fund the two major proposed projects.
GNA
LS/BM