The Ayawaso West Municipal Assembly (AWMA) has issued a two-month ultimatum to property owners within the municipality to regularise their building permits.

All property owners are advised to visit the Physical Planning Department of the Assembly with all relevant documentation to commence the regularisation process without delay.

This directive stems from several buildings sighted in the area without proper approval, per a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the Assembly, Jacob Shamatey.

The Assembly notes that at the end of the two months, it will undertake stringent measures, including the issuance of stop-work orders, demolition of unauthorised structures, and legal prosecution of offenders by the law.

"Property owners are strongly encouraged to use this grace period to engage with the Assembly and regularise their permits to avoid enforcement actions," the statement read.

The Assembly has commenced an extensive inventory of unpermitted developments in areas such as Shiashie, Airport Residential Area, Roman Ridge, Dzorwulu, East Legon, West Legon and other parts of the municipality to ensure full compliance with planning and building regulations.

The Assembly’s exercise is intended to promote orderly development, protect public safety, and enhance the attractiveness of the municipality as a preferred destination for residents and investors.

In recent times, several reports of building collapse in the Central Region have raised concerns over the integrity of buildings put up by property owners. Last month, about four deaths were reported in Cape Coast. A biennium ago, the country recorded several injuries and deaths due to the collapse of building strucutres.

In 2023, the Engineering Council of Ghana expressed grave concern over the surge in collapsed buildings in the country, which has resulted in the loss of lives and properties.

To address this trend, the council decided to set up an emergency team to thoroughly investigate the incidents that have taken place so far.

The Registrar of the Council, Mr Wise Ametefe, announced the establishment of the team and stated that it will also offer technical support to Assemblies in enforcing building regulations and directly respond to such disasters.

Mr Ametefe, while speaking to the media, attributed the blame to the respective Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) for not being up to task with respect to the approval of permits for new buildings.

The Engineering Council regulates the practice of engineering and provides for regulated matters to secure the highest professional standards in the practice of engineering.

It is the role of the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to ensure that permit applications for new buildings in their area of jurisdiction are thoroughly scrutinised in compliance with the Ghana Accessibility Standards.

In 2016, the government launched the Ghana Standards on Accessibility Design Document in Accra, which provides specifications on how buildings, roads, and recreational centres should be designed to make them accessible to all, especially persons with disabilities. Sections of the Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715), specifically in Article 6 (Access to public places), require owners or occupiers of a public place to provide appropriate facilities that make the place accessible to and available for use by persons with disabilities.

The Act further stipulates that a person who provides service to the public shall put in place the necessary facilities that make the service available and accessible to a person with a disability.

These sections of the Disability Act have since been incorporated into the Ministry of Works and Housing’s Building Regulations (L.I 2465), which, among other things, require professionals in the built industry to have inclusiveness in all housing designs to adequately address the needs of the disabled and the aged.