Regional minister asks TDC not to eject government institutions

Tema, April 6, GNA - Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashitey has condemned the Tema Development Cooperation (TDC) for ejecting 11 government establishments from its premises.

"It is wrong for TDC, which is a government organisation to eject other government establishments without relocating them," Nii Ashitey said on Monday when he met with heads of departments and heads of decentralized departments at the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA).

The TDC in a letter requested 11 government establishments operating from its premises to vacate the place by May 31, 2008. The establishments included the Ghana Education Service, New Times Corporation, Rent Control, Land Title Registry, Judicial Service, and the Survey Department.

The rest are Department of Social Welfare, Department of Co-operatives, Statistical Service Department, Department of Culture and Community Development.

Nii Ashitey, a former Chief Executive Officer of TMA, indicated that TDC should have allocated offices in their new building before asking them to vacate the old premises.

He deplored the practice where a state institution acquires land and resells it to private developers to the neglect of intended purpose and expressed the need to take a second look at the operations of the TDC. The Regional Minister stated that TDC would be reorganized to perform a more functional role in the metropolis noting that development was not only about building houses but creating jobs for the people by allocating lands for farming purposes.

Some of the heads present expressed concerns that lands allocated for schools, public recreation and for farming had been sold and converted into residential areas.