Demolition Of Main Building - Day Six
"We cannot accomplish all that we need to do without working together" - Bill Richardson.
A significant progress has been made. The main building is down and all the rubble has been moved outside to be later taken away next week. I must admit, the guys working on demolishing the building are very hard working. Yesterday the progress of the work was slowed down due to rain. I initially thought the rain would last for a few minutes, however it immediately started pouring down heavily. This lasted for about an hour. As soon as the raining had stopped, the workmen were back collecting the rubble and dumping it across the road.
Just after 3pm, I was informed by the Site Foreman that someone wanted to have a word with me. He briefed me quickly that the guy asking of me wanted to know if I had a demolition permit. I approached him and after the pleasantries were out of the way, asked how I could help him. He asked for my demolition permit and went on to state that without a permit I had to stop work. I politely said I was not aware that I needed a permit and that he should give me a couple of days to get this permit together. He was quite nice and helpful. I took his number and promised to give him a call as soon as I had presented my application for a demolition permit.
After he had left, I tried for almost an hour to find information on the internet on how to apply for a demolition permit in Ghana. Yes, you guessed right. I just could not find that information anywhere. The Accra Metropolitan Assembly website is a total mess. I have never seen such a disorganised website. I looks like anyone is allowed to update it. Finding information is a nightmare. I tried three separate numbers listed on the website in the hope of getting information on what I need to present [in terms of paperwork] to the AMA offices in Labadi with no success. Two of the numbers just kept on ringing and then stopped. The last one just did not ring. A dead number.
My next option was to do a Google search for "La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly [LaDMA]". This is the AMA Offices covering Osu and other areas around it. I managed to get two numbers from GhanaWeb website. Yet again, another dead end. I got no response from any of the numbers. At this point, I was getting frustrated. How can it be so hard to find a working number for a government office for the sake of asking a simple question.
I am not sure how I managed this, but I finally ended up at www.ghanadistricts.com. At the top of the page was banner with the wording suggesting that if you needed to contact any district, just dial 0574117630, which I did. Fortunately the chap who answered my call could not assist me personally, however he did give me another number of someone who knew what I needed in terms of documentation. Another phone, but this time with a very positive result.
Mr X [I was not able to get his name] asked me to write a letter FTAO The Municipal Chief Executive. Included in the application I should add a copy of the land Indenture, a copy of the original site plan and a copy of buildings currently on the property. Luckily for me, I had all these with me. I wrote the letter out, attached all relevant paper work and made my to La Dade-Kopoton Municipal Assembly Offices. For your information, the office is located behind the Ghana International Trade Fair. Not knowing there, nor the taxi driver I flagged to take me there, once we got the the vicinity of the Trade Fair, we asked another taxi driver who was able to direct us to the offices.
I have presented my application and I will be called back sometime today by Mr Okopti on how much I will need to pay.
I am still to find out where, on an official local government site, that is Accra Metropolitan Assembly site, where it specifically mentions that one has to obtain a demolition permit before demolition can proceed. I am not against it, but such information should not need me making several phone calls just to get the information I needed.
