Asantehene orders stoppage of work at Owabi catchment area
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has directed that all development activities within the Owabi head-works’ catchment area should cease with immediate effect.
The order would remain in force until issues about encroachment of reserved lands protecting the dam that has been supplying water to parts of the Kumasi Metropolis are resolved.
The GNA learned that this was after the Asantehene had been briefed by a committee he has set up to investigate the reported encroachment, threatening the Owabi Dam.
The committee headed by the Hiahene, Oheneba Agyeman Atweneboana, had earlier met with officials from the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Ashanti Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) , the Lands Commission, chiefs and the family heads of the affected communities at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi.
Chiefs and family heads of communities, who admitted entering and illegally allocating parcels of the said land to private developers, sand winners, farmers and chain-saw operators, were sentenced to a fine of two sheep each and had a week to settle the fine.
The offenders are from Adankwame, Apatrapa, Abrepo, Ohwim, Kokoso, Nyankyerenease, Atafua, Amanfrom, Sene, Adede, Penteng and Nkwantakese.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu has asked the committee to carry out an inspection tour together with the officials of the GWCL, RCC, KMA, the security services and the Lands Commission to determine the extent of encroachment and report back to him.
This, he said would help him to decide on the next line of action to restore sanity.
Mr Francis Mensah, Human Resource Manager, Ashanti Area branch of the GWCL, warned of looming danger if steps were not taken to stop the encroachment and said the Owabi Dam could collapse within the next four years if the situation continued.
He said the dam was heavily silted by polluted water from rivers that fed the dam, making treatment of water too expensive.
Mr Mensah said several attempts by the RCC, KMA and the Company to halt the illegal activities had proofed futile and therefore the decision to seek the intervention of the Asantehene.
Source: GNA