The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has raised safety concerns over a building accommodating student nurses of the Klintaps University College of Health and Allied Sciences at Klagon in the Tema West Municipality, warning that the structure lacks integrity and poses a severe risk to life.
This follows the collapse of an adjoining three-storey building that left a woman and her two children injured. The incident has triggered an immediate assessment by NADMO officials, who have declared the hostel unsafe for continued occupation.
Read also: Mother and two children injured in Klagon building collapse
Speaking to the media after inspecting the site, Director of Man-Made Disaster at NADMO, Maxwell Emmanuel Niber, said preliminary findings revealed that the building housing the student nurses was constructed without the necessary permits and fails to meet structural standards.
“It’s becoming an issue in the country where people get different permits and then they convert them into other constructions. Our checks with the Assembly show that they have not obtained a permit to put up a storey building here.
“You can see the adjoining building also did not have a permit, yet they have constructed a four-storey building housing student nurses, and that is another danger looming,” Mr Niber said.
He announced that the building will be sealed off immediately after the students vacate, pending a full structural assessment.
“Once the students leave the area today, nobody will be allowed to move in until the complete assessment is done. We will send a report to our bosses for the next action. If it needs to be brought down, we will do that because we cannot sacrifice human life for people’s interests,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Municipal Chief Executive for Tema West, Ludwig Teye Totimeh, confirmed that the developer began construction without approval from the Assembly. He said local authorities had already issued a stop-work notice prior to the collapse.
“You can see we wrote on their wall as of September 17, instructing them to stop work. They were told to provide all the necessary documents, but the engineer recently noticed new developments on the site, which he was cautioned about.”
Mr Totimeh added that further inspections will be conducted to determine the extent of possible ground instability following the collapse.
“Because the building went down, the ground might have shaken. We are assessing all nearby structures, including another development right behind, to make sure that whatever has been affected due to the shaking will be taken into consideration. It’s not about what used to happen before, it’s about what happens from now.”