Another TDC demolition in the offing

The Ghana Free Zones Board (GFZB) has served notice on occupants of a 152-acre land in Tema over an imminent demolition exercise.

The Tema Community 21 occupants, mostly farmers, have been given up to Friday, February 21, 2014 to vacate the land.

According to the Board, the land has already been given to an investor to redevelop.

“Drawings on some proposed land use plan have been presented by the investor who has already made some financial commitments to the Ghana Free Zones Board,” announced Obobia Darko Opoku, the Acting Deputy Secretary of the Board, on Thursday, February 13, 2014.

“Work will commence by the end of the first quarter,” she stated.

She observed that development of the land will create jobs for artisans in the real estate industry.

The land is said to have been acquired by the colonial government in 1952.

In 1956, it was transferred to the Tema Development Corporation (TDC), which leased it for agricultural purposes to some farmers for 21 years.

Since TDC failed to renew the leases upon expiration, the Ghana Free Zones Board stepped in to notify all the farmers of expiration of the leases.

The Board stated that in 1997, then President Jerry John Rawlings declared Community 21 a free zones residential enclave in accordance with Section 7 of the Free Zones Act (1995).

Seventeen of the farmers, however, filed a suit against the Board in 1997 in their attempt to redevelop the land, claiming it belonged to them.

The Board says it has gone through all the legal processes to redevelop the land now.

“We are taking this opportunity to give the encroachers who have still not vacated the land the final warning to do so or face the consequences of their default by the close of 21st of February 13, 2014,” Ms Darko Opoku said.