The Director of Communications for the United Party, Solomon Owusu, has argued that Ghana’s current population distribution does not justify the massive sprawl of residential apartments currently seen in Kasoa.
Commenting on proposals to relocate the national capital away from Accra, Mr Owusu stated that shifting the capital would achieve very little if underlying issues such as thriving corruption, poor planning, substandard engineering, and systemic indiscipline remain unresolved.
He pointed to international examples, noting that cities like Cairo manage a population of 25 million on a landmass comparable to Ghana’s urban centers, yet remain highly developed and well-structured.
“From what I know, in Accra, we have not reached the point where we should be building in Kasoa because, going through Nima, Maamobi, North Kaneshie, Asylum Down, Shukura, Russia, and Dansoman, we don’t have well-structured buildings there,” Mr Owusu said. “Do we have well-structured buildings in Abelemkpe?
We have not even reached the point of needing buildings in Weija. I remember in 2003, research was commissioned in Dansoman, and it was established that if we had constructed ten-storey facilities in the area, it could have accommodated two-thirds of Accra’s population.”
Mr Owusu maintained that such density-focused strategies should have been central to the capital’s structural planning.
Instead, he lamented a cultural insistence on individual homeownership, which has led to chaotic horizontal sprawl rather than orderly, high-rise developments capable of accommodating more citizens efficiently.
He dismissed common objections to high-rise planning, labeling claims that the National Fire Service lacks the logistical capacity to handle emergencies in taller structures as ridiculous.
He noted that cities like Dubai have invested heavily in iconic high-rises, such as the Burj Khalifa, by simultaneously building robust emergency response systems to mitigate disaster risks.
Speaking on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM, the communications director referenced advanced nations that have successfully engineered their cities to eliminate the risk of flooding entirely.
Despite Ghana having a significantly lower population than many of these countries, it continues to struggle with basic flood management.
To rectify this, Mr Owusu called for a comprehensive programme of urban renewal to redesign the nation’s cities and permanently resolve the perennial flooding crisis.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana