Melcom Only Occupied Three Lower Floors Of Achimota Building

Contrary to wide perception that the Melcom Group occupied all six floors of the Achimota branch, which collapsed last Wednesday morning, it has now come to light that the popular retail outlet only occupied three floors of the ill-fated building.

Melcom only occupied the first three floors of the building and all these were strictly dedicated to the display of products on sale.

The retail outlet has come under attack for allegedly using the top floors of the Achimota building as a warehouse to store goods, but Chairman of the Melcom Group, Bhagwan Khubchand-Ani says the company already has six huge warehouse facilities totalling over 200,000 square feet at the Industrial Area, which is only two kilometres away from the Achimota retail facility.

Bhagwan Khubchand-Ani said the company needed much space to display her wares and had a tried and tested procedure for replenishing goods sold from the various outlets. ³We dedicate our retail outlets strictly for retail business and our warehouses for storage of products to feed the various stores and we have never compromised on that.

³What heavenly reason can we possibly have in keeping more goods than necessary? I would prefer to use every square inch of our place in displaying products rather than waste it on storage, Mr Khubchand-Ani said.

The Melcom Chairman, who led a delegation of Melcom management to visit victims of the collapsed Achimota building on Friday, said the company would ensure that all victims and their next of kin are adequately compensated for loss of life or injury.

The delegation visited the 37 Military Hospital, Police Hospital, Korle-Bu, and the Achimota Hospital and presented some items to the injured who were still on admission.

Ghana woke up on Wednesday morning to the shocking news of the collapse of the new Melcom store at Achimota, which opened only last January. Rescueworkers led by the military have worked painstakingly to rescue over 80, trapped persons alive. Sixteen persons are confirmed to have died so far as the rescue mission continues.

The Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) is investigating the owner of the building, Nana Boadu. Companies occupying adjoining buildings belonging to the same owner have been asked to vacate their premises pending city authorities¹ assessment of the structures.