The Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA) has partially shut down the operations of United Steel and Fabrication Limited, a steel producing company in the Tema Freezones Enclave of the Tema Region.
The closure follows the company’s inability to meet an 8- month deadline to fix a Pollution Control System to mitigate the air pollution being caused by its operations.
The closure was announced by the EPA following an inspection tour of the facility Monday.
It would be recalled that the Minister of Environment, Science, and Technology some months ago visited the company together with two other companies in the Freezones enclave, and directed them to construct a system to mitigate the air pollution caused by their operation after several complaints from other property owners.
However, a fact-finding team led by the EPA, National Security among others, during an inspection of the facility, saw a lackadaisical approach adopted by owners of the United Steel Company in constructing the pollution control system.
Though management of the company showed evidence of ongoing construction of the system, their pleas for a two -week extension to allow them to complete the system, was rejected.This informed the team’s decision after a closed-door meeting to partially shut down the operations of the steel company until they are able to fix the pollution control system.
The team was, however, impressed with Rider Steel Company, one of the two companies given the deadline to construct the pollution control system due to its level of cooperation and determination to cut down on their pollution.
Ebenezer Appah Sampong is the Deputy Executive Director of the EPA and explains how the partially shut down is going to take effect.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Philip Azu
