The largest wetland area in the heart of the Sekondi Takoradi metropolis, the Butua Lagoon, is under serious threat as the city is overwhelmed by investors looking for land to site their businesses. A 5.7-acre wetland has already been reclaimed by oil company UBI Energy. The company has so far cleared the land and is getting ready to install tank storage bladders for petroleum products without the requisite environmental permit. This has angered the Western Regional office of the Environmental Protection Agency as the agency has issued an enforcement notice ordering UBI Energy to stop developing the area. The Butua Lagoon and Wetland is located adjacent the Takoradi Polytechnic off the Sekondi-Takoradi highway. Together with the Monkey Hills, the area can be developed into a major eco-tourist site. Wetlands function as water filters, reservoirs, blood regulators, habitat for numerous fish, wildlife and recreational area for people. But without any form of permit from the EPA and other relevant agencies, UBI Energy has already reclaimed 5.7 acres of the wetlands to build tanks to store petroleum products. The company defied several warnings and enforcement notices served it by the EPA, an engineer with the EPA in Takoradi, George Kwame Diawuo, told Joy News. The Metropolitan Chief Executive of Sekondi-Takoradi, Kwamena Annan Pra tells Joy news the place is not actually a wetland. “The assembly has no hand in that development. The people have applied for temporary permit which we have not given,” the MCE said. Company officials have declined comment. Story by Kwaku Owusu Peprah