Residents of New Legon, in the Adentan Municipality in the Greater Accra Region, have urged the government to allocate portions of the Animal Research Institute (ARI) land at Frafraha to the community for the construction of the needed infrastructure for the socio-economic development of the area.
According to them, the area with a population of over 20,000 cannot boast of a single police station, clinic, market or a lorry station despite the increase in population and residential properties.
They indicated that the reallocation of part of the land was necessary to address the infrastructure gabs confronting the area, instead of the current situation where the land had being apportioned and shared without recourse to the needed basic amenities.
The Zongo Chief of the area, Alhaji Mohammed Seidu, told the Ghanaian Times that utmost caution must be taken in line with the allocation of the lands to private individuals for private properties because those parties and their owners would stay with their families in an area without schools , clinics, markets, police station and play grounds, as in other residential places.
He added “government must as a matter of urgency issue a degree to freeze all illegal development on the CSIR land and rather apportion part for the development of social infrastructure.”
He cited the New Legon AdMA MODEL SCHOOL in the Adentan East which posed serious danger to the pupils and staff as the area was easily flooded at the slightest rain as such must be relocated to a higher ground to ensure the safety of the users.
Alhaji Seidu also called for the provision of a clinic to serve the area as well as a police station to provide adequate security for the people.
Ms Faustina Nketia, a provision shop owner stated that the development of the Animal Research land into a residential area could pose serious security threat to the neighbouring communities, because no adequate provision had been made towards the allocation of the area into a residential status.
She said the area was always flooded with criminal activities and cautioned that if care was not taken the whole New Legon area could be overtaken by events.
Mr. Solomon Adjatey, another resident, said he had stayed in the area for the past 15 years and called for the provision of drains to prevent the perennial flooding of the area.