Mayor of the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly in the Central Region, Hon. George Justice Arthur, has announced plans to convene an urgent management meeting with expert engineers within and outside Cape Coast to address the recent incidents of building collapses within the metropolis as authorities intensify the demolition of weak and dangerous structures in the city.

‎The emergency meeting is expected to bring together key officials of the Assembly, including heads of relevant departments such as Physical Planning, Works and Housing Department, and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), to deliberate on measures aimed at preventing further structural failures to safeguard lives and properties.

‎According to the Mayor, the increasing cases of building collapses lately have become a major concern, especially as the rainy season sets in, exposing the vulnerability of old, abandoned, and structurally unsound buildings across the metropolis, having recently lost close to five (5) lives to such structural collapses.

‎Speaking in an engagement with Sompa TV's Eric Annan at Gyegyeano, a suburb of Cape Coast where such demolition exercise is been carried out, having initially pulled down four (4) of such buildings in poor state, he indicated that the Assembly has already commenced the demolition of identified weak structures that pose imminent danger to residents. 

‎The exercise, he noted, forms part of proactive measures to avert possible disasters and minimise the risk of injuries and loss of lives, having had the Assembly foot the hospital bills of affected victims to the recent building collapses in Cape Coast.

‎The Mayor further urged property owners whose buildings have been marked for demolition to cooperate with the Assembly and comply with directives issued by the authorities. He stressed that public safety remains the Assembly's foremost priority and that the demolitions are being undertaken in the interest of protecting residents.

‎Hon. Samuel Baidoo Acquah, Assemblyman for Gyegyeano Electoral Area in his address to the media following the ongoing demolition exercise at his area, bemoaned that his electorates didn't really help him when the need came for him to renovate dilapidated building structures within his electoral area a few years back, where he offered to provide cements and blocks but had no resident willing to give out sand to carry out the renovation exercise he intended, which at the end has led to the death of a mother and child with others getting injured last Sunday.

‎Jennifer Sortoh, an affected resident to the ongoing demolition exercise at Gyegyeano, recounted the need for such exercise to be carried out by the Cape Coast Mayor and the Assembly, since they can't prioritize their current place of abode over human life, but appealed to the general public for an interim accomodation since they've nowhere to presently keep their belongings and to even lay their heads, considering the heavy rains being experienced lately which leaves their belongings fragile to rainfall.

‎Sompaonline.com//Eric Annan