Community 25 open lands are government lands – TDC

The TDC Ghana Limited (TDC) has stated that open lands within the Company's acquisition area in Tema Community 25 are government lands and not meant for recreational purposes. Mr. Ian Tabalor Okwei, the TDC Protocol and Administrative Officer, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the resolve by some residents to prevent development of those lands claiming it for recreational purposes. Mr. Okwei explained that whenever TDC developed a community certain portions of the land were earmarked for future development, allocation to statutory bodies, and individual development depending on demand. He stressed that not all open spaces in the TDC acquisition area lay fallow, adding that the company had all of its lands schemed; therefore, no community could lay claim to any area merely because they had for a long time used such places for recreational facilities such as football parks. He explained that when the community 25 area was developed, TDC allocated land to the Ghana Police Service, and documents and proposals were done and handed over to the service even though it was yet to fulfil the financial requirement. He indicated that the land besides the police station, even though it had yet to be developed, had not been allocated to any group of residents for their activities; therefore, it was illegal for such a claim to be made as TDC dealt with each resident individually. Mr. Okwei said just like other lands within its acquisition, the land had duly been allocated to individuals who were yet to develop it. He stressed that fallow lands did not belong to the community, drawing attention to a land the company had allocated to the Ghana Police Service, Tema Regional Command, which the community had turned into a park. He said the fact that they had named the park and used it for their activities did not mean that when the Police Command wanted to develop it, it must not because it had become theirs without any authority. Source: Ghana News Agency