The Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), in collaboration with the se­curity agencies will soon embark on a massive and sustained demolition exercise to clear off unauthorised buildings on the Commission's land at Kwabenya. The Minister of Lands and Natural Re­sources, Alhaji Collins Dauda, who announced this, said the buildings would be pulled down, no matter the level at which such buildings have reached, adding that the illegal develop­ers may even be made to face the law courts. The Minister gave the warning when he led a high powered delegation from the Min­istry and the GAEC to look at the extent of encroachment on the Commission's land by illegal developers. He stressed the importance of nuclear en­ergy and indicated that the Commission's aim of establishing a nuclear energy plant on the portion of the land should not be stalled by illegal developers. He said the government had not yet taken a decision as to what percentage of the land would be ceded to the original land owners for sale to developers. "The government's position on the release of land to owners is clear, and it is that when, in the estimation of government, the land is no longer needed, it will cede the land but in this case, the commission held the land for an im­pot1ant project," he said. He said that in deciding to release the land to their original owners, government would have to conduct due diligence to ensure that the land was released to the rightful owners. "Everyday, I get letters from claimants to the land and so we need to thrash out these problems even before agreeing on what per­centage of the land should be ceded," he emphasised. The Deputy Di­rector-General of the GAEC Prof. Yaw Serfar-Armah, brief­ing the delegation, said from an original land size of 2, 002 acres, years of sustained encroachment had reduced it signifi­cantly. He said the mas­sive encroachment had placed the Commission's nuclear energy-use plan in jeopardy. "If we do not take steps to protect this land, posterity will not forgive us," he said. He explained that given the fact that radiation would be re­leased into the envi­ronment when the project started, there would be the need to reserve a radiological barrier to monitor the environment. "This barrier does not mean that portion of the land is lying fallow but because it is an international requirement to reserve some portion where no activity should take place," he ex­plained. Prof. Serfar- Armah said once the commission got the necessary financial support, the project would commence. Source: Ghanaian Times