Kumasi’s Garden City Under Threat

THE GREEN environment in Kumasi, which has earned the city the name ‘Garden City’, is gradually being depleted due to the mad rush for all available lands for construction works, lately.

People in the city have in recent times been clearing trees, filling waterlogged areas with sand and blocking the path of river bodies with all manner of objects just to pave way for them to start illegal construction works.

Ironically, this development, which has serious ramifications for the people of Kumasi and other areas of the country, is happening in open places in the city but the city authorities are looking on unconcerned.

One of such illegal construction works is currently going on at a waterlogged area at Nhyiaeso, just behind the plush Royal Park Hotel, which is a first class residential area in the city.

An unknown person had filled the waterlogged area with plenty of sand within a matter of days and now everything was set for the construction work to begin in the coming days.

When contacted over the issue, Nana Dwomoh Sarpong, president of Friends of Rivers and Water Bodies, an environmental NGO, warned that the construction work at the site might negatively affect River Suatem which was very close to the construction site.

He observed that the construction work in the area might block the river from flowing smoothly and cause flooding during the rainy season at the Golf Park in Kumasi where River Suatem flows from.

Nana Sarpong again revealed that a portion on the main road from Ahodwo Roundabout to Santase Roundabout where the River Suatem also passes through might also be flooded when it rains, and this might cause damage to the road.

He disclosed that River Suatem was the source of drinking water for some communities near Kumasi, therefore any damage to it would create difficulties for these areas.

To avert this situation, Nana Sarpong said he had personally reported the construction works going on behind the Royal Park Hotel to the KMA and other relevant bodies, but so far nothing had been done about the situation.

He said reports reaching him indicated that the person behind the construction work usually ordered workers to work on the land at night time when everybody was asleep so they would not be stopped.

Nana Sarpong, who had for years championed environmental causes in the country, could not understand why people had lately resorted to clearing trees and blocking waterways just to start illegal construction works, asking, “So we don’t have city authorities in Kumasi?”

According to him, there had been a siege on every open space in Kumasi for illegal construction works, stating emphatically that what was happening in Kumasi could not happen in Accra.

Nana Sarpong appealed to the KMA and other stakeholders to quickly restrain the person filling the waterlogged area behind the Royal Park Hotel to prevent a disaster from occurring in Kumasi.