EPA to close down greenhouse quarry at Adaklu

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to close down Greenhouse International Development Ghana Limited, a Chinese company operating a quarry at Adaklu-Abuadi in the Adaklu District.

The closure is due to the refusal of the Company to renew its permit with EPA since October 2014 in spite of various reminders from the Authority.

The Company was licensed by the Mineral Commission to supply quarry materials for the Eastern Corridor road project and given permit by the EPA in April 2013 but it has since not renewed the permit.

Checks at the Volta Regional office of the EPA indicates that the Company has not submitted environmental management plan to the Authority.

Mr Benjamin Darkwah Oppong, Regional Director, EPA, told the Ghana News Agency that the Company has also refused to submit annual report to the Authority, hence the effort to shut the outfit down.

He said communities around the quarry could suffer from “flying” rocks and quarry dusts should the company continue to operate without EPA’s involvement.

Mr Joseph Ankrah, Director, Geological and Radiological Disasters, National Disaster Management Organization, told GNA that a recent landslide on the Adaklu Mountain, which destroyed farms and displaced farmers could be due to activities at the quarry “if they don’t bury their charges deep.”

Mr Peterson Ming, a Translator for the Company, said he did not know how deep the company buries its charges but said it was working around the clock to renew its permit with EPA.

Further checks by GNA indicates the company has no fire certificate and is also not captured in the Medium Tax payers’ Office (MTO) database of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

The only benefit the Adaklu District Assembly gets from the company is toll on chipping loaded trucks leaving the quarry.

Source: GNA