body-container-line-1
02.07.2009 Regional News

La community needs urgent attention…as the whole suburb is enveloped in stench

02.07.2009 LISTEN
By Naa Norley - Ghanaian Chronicle

La, a suburb of Accra, which lies between Osu and Teshie, has been classified as one of the densely-populated areas in Accra.

Like other developing areas it can boast off well-tarred roads leading to the town, giving the visitor a good first impression. Inhabitants of this town have turned the sea shore into a place of convenience, and refuse dump, without regard to the effects this practice would have on the environment.

Patrons of these practices do not consider the hazards they pose, in their hurried attempts to cross main Accra-Tema dual carriageway, to either ease themselves or dispose of their garbage.

Buildings in the town lack proper architectural planning, compelling vehicle owners to use part of the main streets, which run through the town, as parking lots.

An example of such a situation is the main “Lajuahe or Olympia” road, which is a double lane road that runs to “Agyeman Motomi, where the road shoulders are normally used by private and commercial drivers as a parking place.

A painstaking tour around the township revealed some people have turned the few gutters in the town into urinals, and this is very rampant at the gutter in front of the part called 'Open Air,' and the gutter from Sergeant Adjetey's monument to the La General Hospital smell very badly.

The Cable and Wireless area, where the Ghana@50 or AU Village, referred to as the Garden, is situated, a section of the land is being used by some residents of the area as a place of convenience and a rubbish dumping site, despite calls to desist from it.

Occupants of the village told the paper that they were always greeted early in the morning, with the old and young squatting to defecate.

They said “we have been deprived of the fresh air that comes along early in the morning, but rather with stench emanating from human excreta.”

They noted that it is nasty when one decides to enter the village yard from the main town to Wireless, where a portion has been labeled free for all.

Some residents, whose homes are close to the area, told the Accra File that they have to battle with flies and other flying insects invading their respective homes, due to the indiscriminate ways people discard their garbage on the abandoned piece of land.

The stench emanating from the solid waste plant at the Wireless junction, according to Maame Ama, a resident of the area, was creating a lot of nuisance, with its nauseating odour, and pleaded with the appropriate authorities to do something about it.

She said the 'Garden' was a hiding place for both the old and young, where they smoke Indian hemp (wee), adding that it was dangerous for young women to walk alone through the area at night.

Abbey, a taxi driver, in a chat with paper, disclosed that some faceless individuals had been using the few drains in the town as places of convenience.

Abbey noted that the gutters in front of the former 'Birthday Spot' through to Homos Inn, is the worst place, where such things have been happening.

Abbey said, “instead of people using the rubbish containers provided by the assembly, they rather prefer to tie the rubbish in a black polythene bag, and leave it in other people's backyards.”

La can boast of well-constructed drains/gutters, but they are choked with rubbish, leaving the area with the smell of stagnant waste water from the homes of residents.

body-container-line