Ashongmang residents demand the removal of fuel station

Residents of Ashongmang, a suburb of Accra, are demanding the immediate suspension of work on a fuel station being built in the midst of residential buildings.

The residents fear the fuel station will pose serious risks to them when it starts operating.
“This is not a commercial area, it is residential area and there was no stakeholder consultation before the construction began. We do not need a fuel station here,” one resident told Joy News’ Joseph Opoku Gakpo.

Construction of concrete structures for the fuel station is ongoing and holes have already been dug for underground tanks.

The structure shares a wall with a number of homes and a hospital currently under construction.
According to the residents, the construction has been going on in the night for more than three months now.

The taps do not run frequently in the community and most residents rely on boreholes for water.
They fear the underground tanks might leak and contaminate their water in future if they allow the structure to be put up there.

“We as residents of the community are displeased about what is going on here, it will put our lives in danger,” a resident, David Tetevi said.

The worried residents have petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw the permit granted for the construction of the station fearing, it will endanger their lives.
Sources at the EPA say the permit for the fuel station was granted more than a year ago when there were no homes there.

Following a meeting with the residents, the EPA has insisted there is nothing wrong with where the fuel station is being sited but the residents have written a new petition, appealing the ruling.