The Commercial Quarry Operators Association in the Ashanti Region are appealing to the government to intervene over the encroachment on buffer zones by private developers.
According to the Association, it operations has been gravely affected by the activities of the encroachers in many of their sites.
The allocation of buffer zones in mining activities helps in protecting the health and well-being of the local societies and stockholders as well as prevent the introduction of prohibited substance to adjacent land areas.
But addressing a news conference in Accra, Mr. John Agyei Duodu, a former Director of the Geological Survey Department noted that their sites have been encroached upon by builders.
Citing towns like Ntensre, Buokrom, Buoho, Nsawam Tweabo, he insisted that these lands have been sold to private developers stressing that the issue has made it impossible for them to recoup their investments in the business.
Mr. Agyei Duodu also the Administrator of the Association while calling on the government and its allied agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA), the Mines Inspectorate and Mining Commission among others to come to their rescue noted that quarry holds some socio-economic benefits for the country.
He said quarry creates 5,000 direct employment to people, indicating that there was the need for effective institutional collaboration and coordination by the government agencies with a strong government action to reverse the trend.
“A strong government action will produce the desired results to curtail the encroachment on this scares resource and to further boost public interest in granite quarries for the development of our country” Mr. Agyei Duodu stated.
Source: By Kofi Yirenkyi