Ghana’s EPA gives Empire Cement 30 days to plan relocation from Densu Delta Ramsar site
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Ghana’s Environmental Protection Authority has ordered Empire Cement Ghana Limited to submit a relocation plan for its grinding and bagging plant at the Densu Delta Ramsar Site within 30 days, saying a September closure notice remains in force.
Ghana’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has ordered Empire Cement Ghana Limited to submit a plan for moving its cement grinding and bagging plant away from the Densu Delta Ramsar Site, a protected wetland in the Weija-Gbawe area.
In a directive dated October 28, 2026, the authority said the closure notice it served on the company on September 14, 2026 is still in force, and gave the company 30 days to submit a detailed relocation strategy and a plan for winding down operations at the current site.
The EPA said its concerns date back to June 2020, when it first told the company to stop construction and find another location because the land use did not fit the area. Later assessments found that large-scale cement production was unsuitable there, citing risks to public health, flooding and heavy trucks moving through nearby communities. The plant sits close to homes, Panbros Salt Industries Limited and the Ramsar site.
Empire Cement received an environmental permit in October 2023, but it required the company to submit a decommissioning plan and relocate before the permit expired. The EPA said the permit conditions were changed in January 2024 after ministerial intervention, but the concerns about health, flooding and heavy-truck traffic were never resolved, and petitions from residents’ associations in the Weija-Gbawe area to the President and the Minister for Environment, Science and Technology renewed calls for enforcement.
Citing Section 35 of the Environmental Protection Act, 2025 (Act 1124), the authority said the plan must identify possible industrial sites, set timelines and transition arrangements, and include measures to protect workers. Empire Cement must also find a new site in a designated industrial zone and obtain the required environmental and land-use approvals, including environmental impact assessments, and agree a firm timetable with the EPA and other state bodies for shutting the existing plant and restoring the site.
Until then, the company must maintain the pollution-control measures required under its permit and the closure notice. The EPA warned that resuming operations without authorisation while the closure notice stands could attract sanctions under Act 1124.