Investigators deployed to investigate collapsed buildings areas

A team of investigators has been deployed to communities that recorded collapse of storey buildings under construction to unravel the actual cause(s) of the disasters.

The country, within two weeks, recorded four separate cases of collapse of storey buildings under construction, three of which occurred in the Greater Accra Region and one in the Northern Region.

The investigators have been grouped into four, comprising five members each, drawn from four built environment professional institutions – Ghana Institute of Architects, Ghana Institute of Planners, Ghana Institution of Engineering, and the Ghana Institution of Surveyors.

They are to investigate the circumstances that led to the collapse of the storey building under construction at the Old Bortianor, Adentan, and La Nkwatanang-Madina municipalities of the Greater Accra Region, and the University of Development Studies Campus in the Sagnarigu Municipality of the Northern Region.

Mr Foster Osae-Akonnor, President of the Ghana Institute of Architects, told the Ghana News Agency that the investigators commenced work on May 22, 2023, and had since been collecting relevant information in accordance with their terms of reference.

He said investigations were progressing steadily at the various sites, adding that he was confident that the task would be completed by June 5, 2023.

“The Assemblies and all relevant stakeholders are cooperating with them,” Mr Osae-Akonnor said.

Meanwhile, preliminary investigations by the Engineering Council of Ghana had cited poor supervision particularly on the part of local Assemblies as a major contributory factor to the collapse of the buildings under construction.

Mr Wise Ametefe, the Registrar of the Council, earlier told the GNA that preliminary investigations at the disaster sites had revealed that the owners of the buildings either did not obtain permits or extended the buildings beyond what was approved.

In the case of the Bortianor Church building incident, the Council said preliminary investigations had showed that there were “a lot of flaws in the construction”.

“Concrete columns were there without reinforcement. Concrete work was done porously…there was very little supervision,” Mr Ametefe said.

Source: GNA