The Engineering Council of Ghana has set up a committee of professional engineers to investigate the recent spate of building collapses in the country.
Within a short while, more than four storey buildings under construction have collapsed with some resulting to death and injuries in various parts of the country.
In the early hours of today, four persons were reportedly injured after a church building collapsed at Old Bortianor in the Ga South Municipality of the Greater Accra Region with no clear cause of the collapse just like the other past incidents.
Currently, the Ghana National Service and the National Disaster Management Organisation including other security agencies are on site to rescue the people under the debris after reports were made.
Speaking to Adom News at the back of a church building which collapsed Tuesday at Bortianor, the President of Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), Henry Kodwo Boateng, described the situation as worrying and blamed it on the lack of proper supervision by professionals.
According to Engr. Boateng, the structures that have collapsed in recent times may have passed through the hands of all the building professionals from architect, quantity surveyors, engineers and other professionals in the building-space yet they are unable to stand the test of time.
He further queried whether professionals were involved from designs to the point where they collapsed. The IET President revealed that their investigations into the collapsed building at Akyem Batabi indicated that masons and other artisans who had little knowledge about big structures were the ones working on the project.
Engr. Boateng could not fathom why an institution like University for Professional Studies with Development Directorate will start a building project and it will collapse. “How! Why?” He quizzed.
He again questioned the monitoring and evaluation level of various assemblies after giving permit for construction.
He is of the firm believe that as part of ways of curbing the building collapses, the motive for the setting up of the committee is to investigate and the outcome will serve as a guide to dealing with the canker.
The committee is made up of engineers from IET and Ghana Institution of Engineering.
The IET is urging the general public and institutions to seek the services of professionals to save the country from such situations and deaths.
The IET President wants political influence at the MMDAs to be halted so as to allow professionals and technical people to do their work.
