Contentious 22 storey building at Airport collapses

The 22 storey building under construction around Airport Residential area, which has being the subject of contention between residents and its developers has reportedly collapsed.

The building adjacent to the Association International School over the past two years has seen residents in the area raising series of complaints against its construction.

On Wednesday, February 11, 2021, portions of the building still under construction collapsed and caused injuries to some workers who were on site.

According to a news report by Adom News sighted by GhanaWeb, workers who got injured were rushed to the Nyaho Clinic for Medical Attention.

Roads Minister Kwaku Amoako Atta in 2019 upon visiting the construction site ordered the halt of works on the building and called for the arrest of the contractor citing environmental hazards posed by the construction to the residents and the school.

According to authorities of the school, the construction had affected sections of the school’s foundation creating cracks and causing environmental pollution in the area.

The minister during his visit also had a team with him demolish a concrete barricade that had been erected by the developers.

The Authorities of the Association International School also secured a court injunction against the developers but was later dismissed by an Accra High Court.

Regardless of the minister’s orders, however, works on the building since the brief halt in 2019 has continued unabated.

Reacting to the collapse of the 22 storey building earmarked to house shopping malls and other facilitates when completed, the Headmistress of Association International School, Audrey Doryumu, commiserated with the victims but emphasized that the situation was a confirmation of how the multi storey building lacked structural integrity.

“This is exactly what I have been talking about, the danger that this poses to our children, and the school and those around here. Using incompetent building practices putting up such a building and this is what has happened,” she said.

The Headmistress thus called for a halt of construction on the project immediately.

Watch the Minister’s visit to the site in 2019 below: