March 3, 2023
The city of Tema is located 25 kilometres east of Ghana's capital,
Accra. It is the first point where the geographical Greenwich Meridian,
technically known as Longitude Zero degrees, cuts through the country.
It
is the country’s only true well planned community around an integrated
industrial hub, with provisions made at the time of its construction or
expansion. The provision has served its purpose since until recently
when the industries have chocked the Tema Industrial Area.
However,
the timely intervention in the late 1990s to set up a new industrial
zone, the Free Zones Enclave, has revived and also sustained the plan to
make Tema an industrial city.
Humble beginnings
Tema
was a modest fishing community up until 1952, when the government made
the decision to establish a deep harbour there. In the early 1950s, the
then Gold Coast government made the decision to construct a new sea port
to service Accra and the Eastern Region of the nation in order to
relieve the strain of intense economic activity on the Takoradi Harbour,
the only deep-water port at the time.
The government also
chose to build a new contemporary township in Tema to house the many
employees that will work with the industries.
Early settlement
According
to Nii Amarh Sompunu II, the Stool Secretary of the Tema Traditional
Council (TTC), told the Daily Graphic that the people of Tema are
descendants of the Ga people, who came from the Middle East to the south
and eventually settled in the Greater Accra Area.
The lagoons
and river bodies were all considered to be gods, he said, therefore in
their own wisdom, the people chose to dwell in the area between the
Sakumo and the Chemu lagoons.
Nii Sompunu said the people believe in the presence of lower gods.
The
Tema Stool Secretary recounted that should someone try to attack them,
they would have to defend themselves against the Sakumo to the west and
the Chemu lagoon to the east.
Nii Sompunu said the plan was
that any potential attackers to have to deal with the gods of the Sakumo
and Chemu lagoons before they could reach the people.
He said
farming and fishing were the primary jobs of the people. Therefore,
when the government of Kwame Nkrumah decided to build the harbour in
Tema to create a new entrance to Ghana, the administration at the time
conducted a feasibility study from the Volta Region up to the Western
Region and discovered that the cost of building the harbour would be
higher than they had originally anticipated.
So, it became
necessary for the government to acquire larger amounts of land. As a
result, Tema, Kpone, and Nungua together lost 63 square miles to the
Tema Acquisition Area (TAA).
According to Nii Somponu, the
situation required the government to relocate the residents of Tema,
therefore, the entire Township was transferred to the current Tema
Manhean to make room for the harbour's development and the associated
businesses.
He claims that while doing so, the authorities
realised that, if the people truly believed in the two lagoons'
legendary abilities they should be divided alongside with the Chemu
Lagoon and the Gao Lagoon.
The residents of Tema were, thus,
relocated from the first town to a new one, and as a result they lost
all of their lands to the new port and industry.
According to him, a buffer was also built along the Gao Lagoon to separate the industries from the new township created.
The birth of TDC
Dr
Kwame Nkrumah saw Tema as an industrial appendage to Accra, freeing up
space and relieving the capital of its gritty industries along with
congestion.
The plan was to build a new port city, complete with innovative and improved housing at the highest standards.
The
Tema Development Corporation (TDC) building was, therefore, one of the
early architectural constructions modelled after the English New Town
administrative bodies.
Tema was part of a wider
industrialisation project that included a new aluminum smelting plant
that served as and hydroelectric power station on the Volta River.
In 1952, the decision was taken to build a brand new harbour as part of the larger Volta River Project.
The
English planner, Alfred Alcock, designed what looked like a typical
English New Town, consisting of seven neighbourhoods aimed at
accommodating a total population of 50,000.
In 1960, Dr Nkrumah hired Constantinos Doxiadis, a Greek planner, to speed up and rationalise the urban plan.
The
TDC’s Protocol and Administrative Officer, Ian Okwei, told the Daily
Graphic that the Tema Master Plan was developed based on the ‘community
neighborhood’ concept to promote social cohesion and socio-cultural
satisfaction among the various ethnic groups.
The TAA was divided into Land Uses/zones such as residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, civic and cultural.
Factories
The city and its industrial appeal gave birth to the only expressway in the country, the Tema – Accra Motorway.
Other
industrial concerns Ghana Foods Complex (GHAFCO), GMC Floor, Ghana
Cement, GIHOC Paint, included Lever Brothers now Unilever, the Tema
Fishing Harbour and the Tema Drydock.
There was also Ghana
Textiles Production Company (GTP), the Ghana Textiles Manufacturing
Corporation (GTMC), the State Construction Company (SCC), the UAC, which
had many subsidiaries, the Meat Processing Factory, the Ghana Printing
and Publishing Company, which is now Assembly Press operating in Accra, a
vehicle assembly plant that assembled cars such as Bedford, and
Firestone that was in the sales of tyres.
The hospitality and
recreational facilities included Site 14 Square, where seafarers
(seamen) would mostly converge when they stepped ashore, the Meridian
Hotel, which was completed much later, the Mariners and VALCO Club House
Junior and Senior.
TDC’s new mandate
Mr
Okwei explained that after a series of amendments, TDC has been
converted into a Limited Liability Company and their mandate enhanced to
include expanded operational and geographical scope beyond the TAA.
He
noted that with population growth and increased human activity, Tema
was facing numerous challenges, such as aging communities, population
explosion, deterioration and breakdown of infrastructure, urban blight,
encroachment on public spaces, high incidence of illegal construction,
high housing deficit and exhaustion of land bank.
State of affairs
The
Stool Secretary of the TTC, Nii Sompunu II said although Tema was made
an industrial hub of Ghana post independence, the move had impacted
negatively on the indigenous people of Tema.
He
posited that although the city through the ports and industries had
contributed its quota to the economy of Ghana since the days of
independence, the indigenous people seem not to have directly
benefitted.
Nii Sompunu expressed concern about TDC
Development Company Limited's intrusion into lands reserved for
traditional occupations such as farming and future expansion of the
indigenous people of Tema.
He said already lands in most
communities originally belonging to the Stool and developed by TDC have
been sold to individuals without recourse to the TTC and the Council was
unhappy about such development.
City of choice loses shine
A
former employee of Ghanaian Italian Petroleum Company (GHAIP), now Tema
Oil Refinery, Joseph Ayitey, said Tema was once seen as a desirable
place to live due to its planned residences and social amenities.
However,
the city is now losing its shine due to illegal developments, such as
slums and other illegal developments. Mr Ayitey called on city managers
to address those issues.
Challenges
Tema
was the only planned city in Ghana and the second in the West Africa,
but it is beset with population growth and its attendant challenges that
have conspired to taint its lush and beauty.
The Tema
central sewerage system, which was constructed more than 50 years ago,
is now a major challenge to city managers, and the Tema Metropolitan
Assembly (TMA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the
City of Aarhus in Denmark for an Urban Water Management project to
address challenges of wastewater management from both households and
industries.
Roads
The
haphazard manner in which articulated trucks are parked along major
streets in the metropolis has become a source of concern for road
users.
These trucks are mostly parked on the shoulders of the
roads near the Tema Toll Plaza enclave and adjoining communities,
posing a danger to other road users and the damage caused to the road.
That
is not all, the roads along the old harbour areas such as the Golden
Jubilee Terminal, are almost always chocked with parked cargo and
articulated trucks.
To curb the growing risks, the Greater
Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, has issued an ultimatum to
haulage drivers to remove trucks parked at unauthorised places or risk
being towed.
Health
The
Tema General Hospital is another important installation in the city
established in 1954. It serves as the referral centre for other health
posts in the South-Eastern part of Greater Accra.
It is the health sanctuary for residents of Ada, Dodowa, Ashaiman, Teshie-Nungua and beyond.
Over
time, there has been a need to construct a modern hospital on the vast
land on which the current facility is located. Recently, under the
government’s policy of upgrading hospitals across the country and
improving access to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SGD 3), the
facility is being upgraded to a 400-bed hospital to enhance access to
healthcare for residents of Tema and Ghanaians within the enclave.
To
redevelop the metropolis into a modern model city, TDC has also
initiated a Redevelopment and Urban Renewal Programme across the TAA to
improve the urban environment of the city and help address the
aforementioned challenges.
Housing
The
TDC in bid to address the housing needs of the people has already
constructed four blocks of eight-storey flats under its in-filling
project at Tema Community One site three.
The project is in
line with objectives of the Housing Policy to promote housing schemes
that maximise land utilisation and accelerate home improvement.
Mr
Okwei said the company had been managing the development of the city
for over 70 years and is engaged in site and serviced schemes under
which lands are improved with utility services for residential,
commercial and industrial and other complementary land uses.
It also has a House Ownership Scheme (HOS) where houses are constructed and sold to individuals.
Mr
Okwei said the high level of housing deficit provided great opportunity
for the real estate industry and TDC's new direction with regards to
redeveloping and regenerating the TAA since the city had a high
potential and opportunity for growth in the built environment Industry.
@A glance
Tema
is a planned city constructed just after the country attained
independence in 1957 and was an icon for modernisation on the continent.
Writer’s email: Benjamin.glover@graphic.com.gh
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