Court halts production at Empire Cement

The Accra High Court in Ghana has put an injunction in place preventing Empire Cement from continuing cement production at its plant in McCarthy Hill or in any other location. According to the court, the injunction will remain in place until a lawsuit by the McCarthy Hill Residents Association is finalised.

Justice Boampong announced the ruling after he upheld an interlocutory application by the association, reports Graphic Online, adding that Empire Cement could not prove that it had the required permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Back in June 2021, the residents association announced plans to take out an injunction to stop construction of the new plant over fears that cement dust particles would be blown from the cement factory over local areas, including a salt company located next to the cement plant site. In the same month, Ghana’s EPA shut down operations at the plant after Empire Cement reportedly began production without a permit. Both the EPA and the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) confirmed that they had not issued permits to Empire Cement to produce and distribute cement in the country.

In September 2022, the residents claimed that the plant had started production of cement “at an alarming and accelerated speed,” with three silos installed on the site, fuelling concerns that the plant is producing and bagging cement.