MPs call for strict enforcement of building code
Members of Parliament yesterday called for the strict enforcement of building codes and standards to put an end to the rising cases of collapsed buildings and their attendant loss of lives.
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They said as a first step to addressing the problem, there was the need to take a critical look at the way permits were granted in the country to ascertain whether they met the required standards.
Secondly, they said there was the need to assess the structural integrity of buildings, especially high rise ones to determine whether the right materials had been used and whether or not the buildings would collapse under the slightest pressure or weight.
The MPs made the call when they contributed to a statement made by the member for Wa East, Alhaji Ameen Salifu, on the collapse of a seven-storey building recently at Nii Boi Town, a suburb of Accra, during which one person died.
Alhaji Salifu recalled the collapse of the Melcom Store building in 2102, the collapse of a Methodist Church building in 2013, during which one person was injured and the recent incident at Nii Boi Town, and said the occurrences left a sour taste in the mouth of Ghanaians.
He said after the disaster, many Ghanaians felt that the nation had learnt its lessons and that such disasters would not occur again but clearly, that was not the case.
He said buildings collapsed mainly due to bad designs, faulty construction, weak foundations, use of unqualified personnel in the construction industry, building on inappropriate soils and, above all, non-enforcement of laid down rules and regulations relating to the construction of buildings.
Alhaji Salifu said apart from addressing the problems associated with the granting of permits and ascertaining the structural integrity of buildings, there was the need for Ghanaians to change their general approach towards building.
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"People put up buildings indiscriminately at unauthorised places while the authorities look on only for them to post notices of stop work when the buildings have reached the lintel level," he said.
He emphasised on the need for the capacity of building inspectors to be built to make them more effective.
Officials who condoned and connived with owners of buildings to proceed with shoddy work irrespective of warnings, he said, needed to desist from such acts and must be severely reprimanded or prosecuted.