VIDEO: The forest that today serves as one of Ghana’s biggest cities

It is a community that lights up at night and beautifies the entire city. It has a different setup, one with world-class and international standard buildings – The Airport City.

The area although was owned by government until the year 2000, was sold off by same to some individual estate developers.

During this period, the entire area was a dense forest in the capital of Ghana – Accra.

When it was sold however through a government auction, the first 2 parcels of land were bought and the very first building was established – the Silver Star Tower.

After this, many others emerged, building after building till the place has become a unique area of its own.

Speaking to Wode Maya about the history of the community, president of the Airport City Association, Salah Kweku Kalmoni, said that though the land is owned by individuals, government decides on the urban plan.

“…Airport City is for government but government sold it to individuals…We own the land fully but the government did the urban plan that they don’t want bungalows here, they want all of us to have mid-rise and high-rise and that’s what we did.

“They will do the master plan and say what they want in whichever area. They only tell you about the zone but you decide on the design and the height,” he said.
According to him, the initial managers of the city were the Ghana Airport Company but that responsibility is now being handled by the association.

“Airport City Association we manage the city. The original management were the Ghana Airport Company but we are helping them,” he added.