Management of pollution and hazards associated with Road Construction projects in Urban Communities in Ghana. (a case study in Kumasi)

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2014-08-01
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The aim of this work was to identify the severity of pollution and or hazards on urban environment during road construction projects and the challenges the Environmental Protection Agency faces in the enforcement of pollution mitigation measures with the introduction of the Environmental Assessment Regulation,1999(LI 1652). In order to enhance economic development and improve the quality of life of people, roads are built to facilitate the movement of goods and services. The construction of these roads is however associated with environmental pollution and hazards which affects the health and well being of the people living in the urban communities. The researcher achieved the goals of this research through an interview with the EPA and administration of questionnaires to some selected urban road construction managers in the Kumasi Metropolis. The Relative Importance Index was then used to capture the weights of various factors within a specified method or strategy. This led to the following findings, firstly it was identified that the major challenge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) faces is the lack of adequate resources to intensify its monitoring duties on the various urban road construction sites. The study revealed that although all the seven factors of pollution considered in this work contributed to pollution during urban road construction in Ghana but the most prominent sources of pollution were noise pollution, ground movement and then pollution from dust generation. It was further identified that best mitigation measures for controlling pollution were mostly used on the sites but the frequency of its usage was not adequate enough hence the pollution of the urban environment. It is therefore recommended firstly that road construction managers develop better environmental management plan on sites. It is also recommended that issues of pollution prevention be a priority to the Government and hence allocate more resources to the Environmental Protection Agency to intensify its monitoring duties.
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Building Technology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER oF SCIENCE In Construction Management,June 2014
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