Sole Commissioner surprised about site plans

The Judgment Debt Commission, on Tuesday questioned how Messrs Kojo Abban and Co, a chartered firm of surveyors, obtained a site plan on flooded lands to earn compensations from the state.

Some of the owners claimed that between 27,000 and 60,000 acres of lands were flooded in 1960 due to the state acquisition of land for the construction of the Akosombo Dam.

The claimants are from Eastern, Volta and Northern Regions, who filed claims for damages on their lands in 2005 and finally obtained compensation in 2010.

The total amount paid to claimants was not made known. However, government is still indebted to some of the land owners.

This was made known when Messrs Kojo Abban and Co. appeared before the Commission.

Mr Samuel Apo Kumah, Principal Technical Officer of Abban and Co., told the Commission that the firm did not pay any compensation to the claimants; its duty as surveyors was to survey to gather data on the affected lands and to collect site plans from the claimants for procession.

He said the Lands Valuation Board made payment on the compensation to the claimants and not the Firm.

Mr Justice Yaw Appau, Sole Commissioner to the Judgment Debt Commission, expressed wonder how land owners could obtain site plans in flooded areas.