Don't pollute environment - AMA warns garages

The Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA) admits that it does not have any guidelines that set standards for the operation of garages (also known locally as fitting shops) in the city.

That notwithstanding, the authority says garage owners must not operate with impunity, especially with regard to the environment.

This is because it has come to the notice of the AMA that some garages are not operating with due regard to the environment; are operating beyond their confines and allowing waste from their operations to contaminate the land and water bodies.

Numo Blafo III, Public Relations Officer of the AMA, has warned particularly those garage owners whose activities spill out of the confines of their workshops and onto the streets to desist from the practice, which puts pedestrians at risk and also pollutes the surroundings.

“Over time we have had to give garage owners ultimatums to move their vehicles from unapproved locations. Those who fail to heed several warnings to them are prosecuted,” he said.

With the rainy season still on, some city residents are worried about the health implications of oil and lubricants that drain from abandoned vehicles and those under repair which mix up with rainwater that flows into the compounds of homes and offices.

The health scare is made all the more real as many of the garages in the city are situated in the midst of communities and are suspected to pose risks to operators, their clients and the community at large, especially children who sometimes loiter in the vicinity of the garages.

Numo Blafo urged residents to be on the lookout for possible dangers posed by waste water that flowed from garages and obstructions in the way of the water.

He said it was not fair for garage owners to take over roads that led to people’s homes and offices.

“The AMA depends on the public for information and so neighbours suffering from problems posed by garage owners must report these to the AMA for redress, so it does not seem as if the authority is not responsive to their requests,” he said.

He also said plans to relocate garage owners at Kokompe to Sowutuom some years ago had not been abandoned. The difficulty, he said, was that the authority lacked the backing to do so.

“To move garages to prescribed locations will not be difficult if only the government or the authority or landlords had use for the lands after evacuation. Otherwise the emptied lands will be encroached on and defeat the purpose for moving them,” he said.

Meanwhile, a landlady, Madam Love Obiri, whose house shares a boundary with a garage at Adabraka, complains of profuse exhaust fumes from the workshops nearby which has resulted in her having chronic cough and catarrh.

She said sometimes during the rainy season, the garage became flooded and the water that flows into her home destroys her property.

Kwaku Oti, a mechanic at Bubiashie, said mechanics were fine, except that itching was a common complaint for himself and his colleagues.

When contacted, Dr Henry Aidoo of the Graphic Clinic said besides inhaling copious amounts of exhaust fumes, incessant noise and poor posture as a result of contorting themselves into all manner of shapes during their operations, mechanics and, indeed, people who use the vicinity of the garages over long periods could suffer from chemical allergies and lung diseases including asthma, as well as gastro-intestinal diseases like diarrhoea and occasional vomiting.

An Environmental Health Technologist with the AMA, Mr Wisdom Adetsey, also cautioned against siting garages close to water bodies and community wells.

He said this was because some of the hydrocarbon compounds from the oils and other lubricants that pour on the ground may either flow into and pollute the water bodies or seep into the ground and pollute ground water.

“A look at the Odaw River shows clearly the damage pollutants have done to the water body such that now all aquatic life in the river is dead,” he said.

He noted that the slow rate of prosecuting those who violated environmental laws was  due to the lack of adequate staff to go round and ensure environmental cleanliness.

By Jojo Sam / The Mirror / Ghana