Officials of the Animal Research Institute (ARI) of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have denied that the houses already put up on the 800 acres of land encroached upon by developers are going to be demolished.
The 1,000 acres of land were acquired by the state to facilitate the work of the institute, which is a research facility. With time however, encroachers set their sight on the land and commenced putting up structures.
According to one of the officials, who prefers anonymity, “the issue at stake currently is the remaining 200 acres which they want to encroach upon. Indeed, the encroachers have already commenced doing so and have started working on a place directly opposite our Veterinary Clinic.”
Following the massive encroachment, he said “government asked that we raise a loan to fence the remaining 200 acres which we did. The fence notwithstanding, the encroachers won’t let go their intentions as they breach the fence to undertake their mission.”
This, he said, is their worry, adding that “when the Greater Accra Regional Minister Henry Quartey came on a visit to the location, he saw for himself the level of encroachment. He did not say the houses on the encroached land were going to be demolished. His remarks were about the encroachment upon the secured 200 acres,” the ARI official said.
Earlier, property owners on the 800 acres pleaded with government to regularise ownership of their property. They were of the view that the regional minister was going to order the demolishing of their houses.
Our ARI source said “they spread this story to win public sympathy. As an animal research institute we have cows, rabbits and insects within the encroached land.”
The ARI is situated within the Adenta Municipal Assembly jurisdiction.
By A.R. Gomda