Halt real estate activities on Aburi Mountain to stop rock falls – Engineer

An engineer, Mahama Abdulai, has warned of more rock falls on the Accra-Aburi road in the Eastern Region, should the Akuapem South Assembly continue to allow construction activities on the slope or the peak of the Aburi Mountain.

He said such developments on the hill weaken the mountain’s rock formation and allow water to penetrate cracks, causing the particles to fall.

In barely two weeks, two rockfall incidents have occurred, leading to a temporary closure of the Accra bound section of the Aburi – Ayi Mensah road.

The latest rockfall was Sunday, October 27, 2019.

According to Ing. Mahama Abdulai, the Akuapim South Assembly, in whose jurisdiction that area falls, must take a decision against construction works close to the peak of the mountain to ensure that a lasting solution is found to the problem.

He further noted that any attempted engineering solution such as holding the foot of the mountain with a metal mesh will not work if estate developers on the mountain are allowed to continue building.

“When we are trying to do an engineering solution and we ignore what is happening up the slope, it will lead us no where. The Akuapim South Assembly has to sit up and stop the construction of buildings around the peak of the escarpment. When the surface is disturbed as it is now, there are segmentation in the rock and anytime it rains, water will infiltrate those fragments and make the materials loose.”

The Ghana Highway Authority had also attributed the problem to the real estate activities on the mountain.

The Authority chided the local assembly for giving permits for such developments to take place on top of the hill.

The Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Highway Authority, Diana Siade in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday said;

“What was found after the feasibility surveys was that the sedimentary rocks are eating away. Moreover, if you go to the top right now you’ll be amazed at how people have built houses there. That is not the doing of the Ghana Highway [Authority], but the assemblies giving permit for this. The assemblies have engineered it so we don’t know what is going on,” she said.