Accra Mayor Alfred Oko Vanderpuije says his outfit has located close to thousand buildings in the metropolis put up without the necessary permit from his Office. According to him, the owners of the buildings have been notified to produce the required permits, failure of which they risk losing their buildings. Six weeks have passed since the five-storey Melcom shopping center collapsed and killed about 14 people while injuring over 81 others. The incident raised questions about the effectiveness of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA's) monitoring mechanisms as well as that of the Town and Country Planning to ensure that buildings meet the necessary requirement for habitation. Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday, Mr. Vanderpuije said an exercise undertaken by the Assembly about three years ago identified that over 1000 structures in Accra which had already been completed have no permit. He indicated that the Assembly had opened its doors “for the owners of those buildings to come through the process so that we can go back and assess their buildings and if we can regularize them, we do regularize them. If we cannot regularize them and alterations and reforms need to be attached to their development, we make sure that we do that so that we can bring those buildings under building permit compliance.” The AMA boss said the efforts were to guarantee public safety of buildings in the city. "On my staff level, I am always with my staff, I am always in a meeting with the staff of the Town and Country Planning and the Works Department to make sure that people who work for the public, people who the public depend on to ensure their safety, we can hold them accountable. The public can depend of the AMA."