DEVELOPERS ENCROACH ON WA AIRSTRIP (PAGE 49)

THE Upper West Regional Aviation Officer, Mr Clifford A. Appiah, has noted with concern the increasing level of encroachment by defiant developers on the land constituting the entire Wa airstrip.
Describing the situation as a serious threat to the safety and the security of users of the airstrip, Mr Appiah said erosion around certain portions of the strip was also of major concern.
Mr Appiah expressed the concern during a tour by the Upper West Regional Minister, Mr George Hickah Benson, and officials from the Wa Municipal Assembly and the regional Land Secretariat to the airstrip to ascertain the seriousness of the problem.
He noted that some residents had also cut the barbed wires which had been erected to safeguard the runway, thereby giving stray animals the leeway to move onto the runway with ease.
“On June 2, 2008, a goat crossed the Air Force plane which was transporting the Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, from Wa to Accra just as it was about to take off,” the aviation officer lamented, saying the situation could have brought a lot of grief to the entire country.
Asked if the number of aviation security personnel available was up to the task, he explained that with the support of the police, they were able to contain the situation.
“This airstrip is used mainly by VVIPs and VIPs and so all stakeholders must come together to ensure its maximum security, protection and maintenance,” he pointed out.
Mr Benson, for his part, gave the assurance that everything would be done to save the airstrip, since it was used not only by the President and his vice but also by all and sundry.
Meanwhile, the Daily Graphic gathered that in spite of efforts such as radio announcements and a series of meetings between officials of the regional Land Secretariat and the purported landlords, developers were still keen on putting up buildings around the demarcated area.
The Wa Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Mohammed Abdul Aziz, in an interview, blamed the problem on the inadequate capacity of the Building Inspectorate Division of the assembly, as well as connivance by some workers of the assembly with the developers.
He said a task force to monitor the siting of unauthorised structures in the municipality, as well as the proper issuance of permits for buildings, had been constituted to check the situation.