The engineer in charge of Structures at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mike Addo, has hinted of the impending collapse of one of Ghana’s finest event centres, the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC).
According to Mike Addo, the building, which has one of the largest capacities for events and meetings is in a dangerous state.
The engineer has therefore called on government to immediately rehabilitate the edifice, which was commissioned in 1991.
According to him, “30 per cent of the building’s columns and pillars are gone.”
He said when the building was commissioned about 29 years ago, there was water at the base of the structure so it has affected the maintenance of the building due to the degree of moisture on the concrete.
“The first report I saw on this was in 2014, and it was almost like this concrete of pillars was coming off.
“There was water on the floor when the building was being commissioned, either there is some passage of water from external sources or there is ground water for which there has not been adequate sub-structural drainage.
“When you put up a concrete structure right from the concrete sets and it hardens, the atmosphere starts attacking, and there is nothing you can do about it”, he told members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament yesterday.
According to him since local engineers were not involved during the construction of the centre of six halls with a total capacity of 6,000 people, there was no room for the Architectural and Engineering services Limited.
Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh-Dompreh who is the Chairman of the Committee, expressed concern about the national facility.
“This committee is surprised. Obviously, we are not in any attempt to point accusing fingers. We think that is a genuine challenge that we all need to resolve if you listen to the professionals”, he noted.
The chairman of the committee indicated that the basement of the building is weak and the concrete and iron rods are rotten but one might think there’s nothing wrong with the building looking at it from outside.
He therefore called on the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchway to step in quickly to put out a plan for renovation.
A member of the committee from the minority, Dr Francis Dakura, noted that government should build a new conference centre while they take steps to refurbish the AICC.
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