Accra houses near railway to be demolished

Over 60 houses in the vicinity of the Accra-Tema railway in central-north east Accra are set to be demolished by the Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA) to make way for the development and expansion of the railway line.

The move is also part of greater efforts by the GRDA to resolve issues of encroachment on rail lines by residential and commercial properties.

Most of the buildings marked for demolition are around the Baatsona area on the Spintex road, to the north-east of the capital, as well as Achimota and Kwame Nkrumah Circle in central Accra.

The railway authority claims that the owners of the affected buildings have known about the proposed demolition since last year, although it acknowledges that the owners have yet to receive a demolition date.

Many of the property owners have vowed to resist the demolition exercise unless they are "compensated adequately".

Ghana's transport ministry has neither confirmed nor denied the issue of compensation, but insists that the houses earmarked for demolition were built within 200-m of the tracks, in violation of the law.