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By: Edward Graham Sebbie and Justice Ahoto
A fresh dispute has erupted between the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) Ghana Limited and the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) over development planning and permitting authority within the Tema metropolis.
The disagreement followed the demolition of portions of an ongoing TDC development at Tema Community One, Site 3, by the TMA on August 12, 2026.
The Assembly, led by the Tema Metropolitan Mayor, Ebi Bright, moved to the site following complaints from residents and raised concerns about the absence of the requisite development permits.
The ongoing project, which involves the construction of office facilities, had been secured by military and police personnel as well as the TDC taskforce, a situation that had reportedly generated concern among some residents.
The development has now exposed a long-standing disagreement over the extent of TDC’s planning authority within its traditional operational area.
TDC was established in 1952 through an Act of Parliament to plan, lay out and develop a 63-square-mile acquisition area in Tema under a 125-year lease.
The corporation was subsequently transformed into a limited liability company in 2017 and renamed TDC Ghana Limited in 2023, with an expanded commercial mandate beyond the original Tema acquisition area.
The company has since undertaken a number of physical development projects in Tema, Ashaiman and other parts of the country.
But the Managing Director of TDC Ghana Limited, Courage Makafui Nunekpeku, says the latest action by the Assembly is unfortunate.
He argues that decades of inter-governmental arrangements have allowed TDC to undertake developments within its jurisdiction without going through the conventional permitting process of the Assembly.
According to him, TDC has operated under this arrangement for more than three decades and therefore sees the current disagreement as unnecessary.
Mr Nunekpeku also dismissed suggestions that any purported injection of funds into the corporation has a connection with the disputed development.
He disclosed that TDC has petitioned the Ministries of Local Government and Works and Housing, as well as the Chief of Staff, to intervene and help resolve the impasse.
He expressed confidence that the matter would be settled amicably while assuring that development works would continue.
The Tema Metropolitan Mayor, Ebi Bright, however, maintains that TDC does not possess independent planning authority and must obtain the necessary permits from the Assembly before undertaking developments within the metropolis.
She cited the Local Governance Act and the legal framework governing physical planning and development control, which vest local development and building permitting functions in Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.
According to the Mayor, TDC should at least have notified the Assembly about the proposed development to prevent the current confrontation.
She said the Assembly would uphold the law over any administrative convention that may have existed between the two institutions.
The dispute has consequently raised broader questions about the overlapping mandates of state institutions involved in land administration, physical planning and development control in Tema.
The intervention of the relevant ministries and the Chief of Staff is now expected to determine the legal and administrative basis for TDC’s development activities within the Tema metropolis and help prevent further confrontation between the two state institutions.
