The Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, has shockingly revealed that there are 117,175 unauthorized buildings in the capital which the Assembly is currently grappling with.
According to him, in 2010, 81 buildings were regularized out of a total of 374 applications received. In 2011, 757 applications were received of which 106 were regularized.
255 applications were received in 2012 but only 18 buildings have been regularized.
He made these disclosure on the sidelines of a press conference he addressed on Friday at the site of the unfortunate collapse of the six-storey Melcom Shopping Complex building.
The ultra-modern shopping mall caved in on Wednesday morning trapping over a hundred people.
As at Friday morning, about eighty people had been rescued from the debris while nine have been confirmed dead. It is feared nine more people who were rescued may survive after being trapped for more than 30 hours in the rubble.
The Accra Mayor said the collapsed building was commenced in 1997 and completed in 2008; and insisted that the owner, Nana Boadu Ayeboafo, was not given the requisite permit to put up the building
He added that the owner of the building has been given a grace period to regularize four other buildings within the catchment area or risk demolition.
