Assembly member and Unit Committee to check indiscriminate mining

Akwatia, Sept. 19, GNA - Mr Anthony Dogbatse, Assembly member for Amanfrom Electoral Area at Akwatia, and the Unit Committee of the area have resolved to resist further indiscriminate mining activities in the community.

They said those activities posed danger to residents and would therefore resist any further environmental degradation of the area. Mr Dogbatse was speaking to Newsmen at Akwatia after conducting them round some of the sites already mined and others earmarked for mining.

He explained that the Ghana Consolidated Diamonds Limited (GCD), had allowed small scale miners, popularly called "tributers" to mine the compounds and roads in the community. He said, the small scale miners were allowed to mine anyhow without adhering to mining regulations. Mr Dogbatse said two communal kitchens where the inhabitants prepared their food, were sold and mined without a replacement contrary to what GCD promised. Two public toilets were also demolished and mined and as at now no replacement had been provided.

Mr Dogbatse said what was worrying was a road, which passed through the community to GCD plants and a substation of the Volta River Authority (VRA), had also been mined without reclamation. He said recently the VRA was transporting a transformer to its station, but due to the bad nature of the road, it was left at the mines security gate. The assembly member showed another road at the "Zoo" and "R" compounds, which he said had been sold to be mined soon. He expressed worry that all those mined-out areas, which were never reclaimed, collected stagnant waters and in two cases some children fell in them and lost their lives. No official of GCD was immediately available for comment.