TRASACCO’s investment risks going down

Ghana’s first ever condominium built by Trassacco Estate Developers Company (TEDC) risks going down if attempts to find solutions to flooding resulting from the siting of the edifice fail.

The multi-million dollar edifice christined ‘VILLAGGIO PRIMAVERA’, situated just opposite the private residence of former President Kufuor around investor confidence in the sector

National Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Mr. Kofi Portuphy who made these revelations on Thursday said the Tetteh-Quarshie interchange is said to be sited on a major water-way, with no precautions taken to ensure the free flow of water during rains.

According to city authorities and disaster management concerns in the capital, the magnificent estate put up by TEDC reputed for the provision of residential apartments for high net-worth individuals is situated at the exact place the Onyasia drain dumps its collections after receiving flowing water from the Akwapim ranges, through Madina, East Legon and its surroundings.

What makes the situation worrying is that the underground drain which should have been constructed under the apartment before the high-rising apartments were put up, as well as the storm drains which should have been built around the area to prevent flooding have both not been done, giving city authorities the head-ache of finding practical solutions to the problem while protecting the estate developers’ investment so as to sustain “disaster management is now a development issue and must be dealt with as such”

He said the particular edifice and many others which have been put up in water ways in the city should have been built on pillars to allow for water to pass under them unhindered. “He mentioned Nzulezu, a village sited on water in the Western Region, as a typical example of buildings erected on pillars with water flowing freely under them, and asked people to consider such examples if they chose to build in water ways.

According to Mr. Portuphy, the incidence of global warming and its cascading effects are so real that no nation must ignore them in their development and city planning. He however gave the assurance that in the case of VILLAGIO PRIMAVERA, demolition would be a remote resort.

One thing which is however not clear is how the Department of Town and Country Planning would give permit for such a high profile construction without looking at safety measures, and why the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sat by unconcerned while all this was going on.

The NADMO boss recommended that city authorities as well as District Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies should be sensitized to understand the need to factor disaster management into their activities.

He lamented the incident of fires in market places, caused mostly by illegal power connections as well as the lack of fire hydrants in the markets. He said these fire outbreaks end up in very high financial losses to traders and business people, “and these things need to stop somewhere”.

He said it is very expensive to relocate people in the wake of disasters and so people must be wary of where they site their buildings.

Meanwhile attempts to get TRASACCO to respond to the issues concerning the sitting of VILLAGGIO PREMAVERA failed as the site engineer and his deputies were nowhere to be found when this paper visited the site.