The government has made a U-turn on the demolition of unlawfully erected buildings in the core zone of the Sakumo Ramsar site.

The Greater Accra Regional Security Council was scheduled to demolish all structures on the Ramsar site after fence walls in the core zones of the site were earlier pulled down in October this year.

A team was tasked to take an inventory of the number of houses illegally constructed on the Sakumo Ramsar site to allow for the second phase of the demolition.

But at a stakeholder engagement on Sunday, the regional minister, Henry Quartey revealed that measures have rather been put in place to get the structures regularised.

“I want to say here and now that not a single building will be demolished,” he said to some applause.

“We will go through some processes of discussions, and we will have this kind of meeting again in about three weeks’ time by which time we would have had a clear road map,” the minister added.

The decision came weeks after the Regional security council completed phase one of the demolition exercise, where fence walls within the core zones of the Ramsar site were demolished.

The Sakumor Ramsar site has been faced with encroachment over the years, causing flooding at the slightest downpour at Ashaiman, Tema and other adjoining areas.

The site comprises a coastal brackish-saline lagoon and the surrounding floodplains, freshwater marsh, coastal savannah grasslands with thicket vegetation, and a narrow sand-dune connection to the sea.