Bulldozers pulling down the flats
The 48 Engineers Regiment of Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) on Monday began the demolition of the four blocks within the Kaiser Flats enclave in Tema which were declared unfit for human habitation by National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).
The occupants of the four blocks namely, 407, 408, 410 and 415, were all evacuated by the Tema Development Company (TDC) Limited in February, this year after the declaration.
Officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), in collaboration with the Tema Development Corporation (TDC), Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), Ghana Police Service and personnel from National Security, supervised the exercise to pave the way for TDC to take possession of the four blocks for redevelopment.
TDC Company Limited planned to demolish the flats in 2013, but the exercise was aborted owing to some mediation.
The illegal occupants later sought a court injunction to restrain the TDC from ejecting them.
However, the High Court in Tema ruled in favour of the latter in July 2017 after years of litigation.
Later, the occupants went to court to plead for some time to vacate the flats.
The court gave the occupants up to the end of January 2018 to completely vacate the flats.
The TDC subsequently obtained a writ of possession to remove the occupants to pave way for the redevelopment scheme for the entire Tema, especially the Kaiser Flats area.
The Kaiser Flats were built in the 1960s to temporarily accommodate expatriates who were building the Volta Aluminum Company (VALCO). TDC expressed its readiness to renovate the remaining blocks in the area.
Prior to the exercise, residents were briefed by stakeholders on the exercise, which is expected to last for about 16 weeks.
From Vincent Kubi, Tema
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