Amrahia residents complain of cracks in buildings

Owners of about 200 houses at Amrahia in the Adenta municipality have expressed worry over cracks which keep developing in their buildings following vibrations, the source of which they are unable to locate.

Residents complained about loud noise, followed by vibrations and cracks on their buildings, which have gone on for over two years now.

“We hear loud noise and feel the vibrations and then the cracks follow,” Mr Seth Amoah Ashirifi told the Daily Graphic.

Houses in the community, as well as uncompleted structures, including schools, have developed cracks which have been patched several times.

The residents said the need for them to patch their buildings was becoming frequent and the cost involved high. 

Currently, a number of quarries are sited on the Shai Hills, providing gravel for the building and construction industry. No quarry site

However, checks in the immediate surroundings of the community, situated along the Dodowa road, do not establish that there is a quarry in the area, but some of the residents believe the development could be as a result of the use of dynamite for blasting in the quarries located on the Shai Hills, about 30 kilometres away from the community.

An official of the Adenta Municipal Assembly told the Daily Graphic that the assembly had no record of the existence of a quarry in the municipality.

From the Environmental Protection Agency, Mr Kwabena Badu-Yeboah said clayey soil was also vulnerable to cracks.  Other problems

The cracks constitute just one of the problems confronting the community. The activities of laterite-carrying tipper trucks are also a source of concern to the residents.

The truck drivers drive dangerously on the bumpy, dusty and pothole-filled roads, generally paying no heed to the cries of residents to limit their speed for the sake of the children.

The activities of the truck drivers affected businesses in the area, Ms Charity Avorgbedor, a drinking bar operator, complained.

“When they move fast, the trucks leave behind a trail of dust, which spreads all around. The dust enters the bar and we have to clean the whole place time and again.