AMA pulls down structures at Jamestown beach For Fishing harbour project

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has demolished hundreds of structures at the Jamestown beach enclave to pave the way for work to begin on the Jamestown Fishing Harbour project.

The demolition exercise, which began at about 5a.m, saw city officials and armed policemen storm the coastal community to pull down a string of wooden structures and other buildings.

When the Daily Graphic got to the area around 11am, some bulldozers were seen pulling down buildings while the fisherfolk and some squatters watched on without any resistance.

Many of them were trying to salvage their belongings while others, including women and children, sat in despair and dejection.

Residents impressed

Some of the residents the Daily Graphic spoke to, said the AMA had engaged them prior to the demolition and that gave them the opportunity to take out their belongings.

The Chief Fisherman of Jamestown, Nii Armah Wulu, said the community members were in support of the exercise because the AMA had duly engaged them about the importance of the project.

“The AMA gave us letters about the demolition and held meetings with us. The exercise was supposed to have happened earlier but because of the partial lockdown of Accra, it was delayed,” he said.

Assurance

The Head of Public Relations at AMA, Mr Gilbert Nii Ankrah, said all was set for the project to take off.

“The project will start as soon as possible. It is under the supervision of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MoFAD) but because the area falls under the jurisdiction of AMA, we are ensuring that the demolition exercise is done to pave the way for it to be implemented,” he said.

He added that measures had been put in place to compensate legal residents of the area who had suffered some losses.

The Jamestown Fishing Harbour project is in three major parts.

It involves the dredging of about 118,000 cubic metres harbour basin and shipping channels; construction of hydraulic structures composed of berths, seawall and a break water; and construction of administration, production and supporting facilities, including an office building, kindergarten, trading market, processing area, commercial area and other production and supporting facilities.

Source: graphic.com