Officials of State Housing Company have stormed Bogoso Appiatse to assess the level of devastation and how the community could be rebuilt by the Nation’s Number 1 Builder.
The officials were on site last Friday a day after vehicle carrying explosives detonated and exploded killing scores of residents of the town and virtually bringing the small community to rubbles.
Led by Mr Kingsly Hagan, the Regional Head of SHC, technical officers were on site to enumerate the collapsed buildings.
“In all, about 150 houses were enumerated”, Mr Hagan said
The Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on Friday visited the scene and announced that Government was partnering with SHC for the rehabilitation efforts.
Working through the State Housing Company (SHC) and in collaboration with mining firms operating in the Bogoso area, Government will provide affordable housing for those whose houses were destroyed in the blast.
Vice President Bawumia made the pledge when he led a government delegation made up of the Minister for the Interior, Hon Ambrose Dery; Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Hon Samuel Abu Jinapor; Information Minister Hon Kojo Oppong Nkrumah; Western Region Minister Hon Dr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah; Director General of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Eric Nana Agyemang-Prempeh and other officials to commiserate with the families of the affected on Friday, 21 January 2022.
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Briefing the Vice President, officials at the hastily set-up Operations Centre at the scene of the disaster, including the Inspector General of Police, the Chief Fire Officer, senior Army officers, senior officials of the other security agencies, the Ghana Health Service, Ambulance Service and other allied agencies disclosed that 179 persons had been directly affected by the blast, allegedly caused by a collision between an explosives-carrying vehicle and a motorbike.
13 persons have been confirmed dead so far, they added, with 45 others receiving medical attention in nearby hospitals and a further 4 referred to the Komfo Anokye and Korle Bu hospitals. About 150 persons, almost the entirety of the community, are now seeking shelter at the Catholic Church’s centre because their houses have either been destroyed or made unsafe by the blast.
Accompanied by the Chief of Appiatse and the MCE for Prestea Huni Valley, Dr Bawumia and his team visited the scene of the blast, which has a large crater in the middle of the highway, the Appiatse health centre to see some of the injured, and the Catholic centre to commiserate with the displaced and hand over 13 tonnes of relief items comprising of rice, oil, soap, blankets, used clothing, mosquito nets and coil and mattresses, and a large sum of money for their upkeep.
Source: Myabclive
