Residents of Old Barrier near Weija in the Greater Accra Region who are having sleepless nights over the ongoing construction of an imposing structure allegedly meant for a warehouse can now heave a sigh of relief as the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ga South Municipal Assembly, Elliot Adom says the Chinese company, DING FAN LIN has no building permit.

Upon receipt of numerous complaints from the residents, according to Mr. Adom, the Assembly decided to halt the construction for a “thorough investigation”.

Mr. Adom revealed to the New Crusading Guide Sunday that contrary to the perception that the Chinese company had a building permit issued by the Assembly “they only have a payment receipt for building permit but that does not mean the Assembly has given them the permit to build”.

“In fact they started putting up the structure before making the payment so the Assembly could not have given them the permit”, he added.

Touching on the suitability of putting up a factory in a residential area and the fact that the height of the building would make it possible for its occupants to overlook into the houses nearby, Mr. stated that “the request for the permit is yet to be considered by the Assembly so if it is found out that the structure would inconvenience residents, then certainly the company would be asked to make modifications but as I stated, they have no permit.”

Aside the payment for work permit, the company has also managed to secure an ‘environmental permit’ and a ‘fire certificate’ under some unexplained circumstances.

The residents have raised grave concern about the noise and other forms of pollution that are likely to be generated when the supposed factory eventually becomes operational although there is contrary information that the building would be used as a bicycle warehouse.