Remove slums from prime areas in Ghana – Surveyors
The President of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GIS), Mr James E.K.Dadson, has warned that if steps were not taken to remove slums from prime areas Ghana cannot achieve the desired level of sustainable development.
Speaking at a thanksgiving service to round off the 8th Annual Surveyors Week in Accra, he said the Institute intended to embark on massive urban renewal to ensure that neighbourhoods become fit for habitation and conduct of human activities.
The 2013 Annual Surveyors’ week celebration centered on urban renewal and sustainable re-development of Ghana’s cities.
The celebration also aimed to draw the government’s attention to the problem of urban decay and the development of slums with a view to finding lasting solutions to undesirable elements such as slums, traffic congestion and the menace of old and dilapidated buildings in the city centers.
Mr Dadson said Ghana had not managed its urban development well over the years.
“If in the opinion of the experts a particular land use is not beneficial, we will have to relocate it and put it to a use that will be beneficial to society. You cannot have a slum in an area that has very high land value,” he said.
Mr Dadson said landowners, property developers and the general public who want to register or acquire property must engage professionals who have been trained in that area if they want to get value for money.
He said even when the Survey Council Bill, which is now before Parliament, is passed it would still require the enforcement of the law to ensure that Ghana’s urban centers are congenial places to live in and work.
“I think the most important thing is not having the law but rather being able to enforce the law. That is the key. We can have all the laws in this country but if we don’t enforce them we will not benefit from the gains from these laws,” he said.
Mr Dadson appealed to the judiciary, the law enforcement agencies, professionals, civil society and land owners to be prudent in the way they manage land resources in order not to end up hurting the environment.
The Bishop of the Accra Diocese of the Methodist Church, Most Rev Awotwi-Pratt, appealed to surveyors to always have in mind the future of the country in all land transactions so that generations yet unborn will not suffer and be burdened unnecessarily by the greed and wrong actions of people of today.
Source: GNA