Ghana Weighs “No Permit, No Utility Supply” Rule to Curb Illegal Development

A Ghanaian development-control expert is pushing a policy that would deny electricity, water and other permanent utility connections to any building that lacks a valid development permit. The proposal, set out by Engr. Surv. Dr. Ebenezer Ankomah Gyamera in a widely shared ModernGhana opinion piece, calls for the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) and Ghana Water Limited to link permanent service connections to proof that a building has been approved and inspected by the relevant Metropolitan, Municipal or District Assembly (MMDA).

It is important to be clear about what this is: a policy proposal from an individual professional, not a law or directive currently in force. But it lands at a moment when Ghana’s urban expansion — and its recurring flood damage — has put development control back on the public agenda, and it offers a useful lens for anyone building, buying or financing property in the country.

What the Proposal Says

The core idea is simple: utilities are already essential to occupying and operating a building, so tying their connection to permit approval would give developers a much stronger incentive to seek permission before construction rather than after. Under the plan, temporary electricity could still be supplied for construction purposes, but conversion to a permanent meter would only happen once a building passes inspection — and, for completed structures, once an occupancy or habitation certificate is issued.

The author frames this as a shift from reactive enforcement — demolitions, stop-work orders, sporadic raids — toward prevention. Ghana’s current toolkit relies heavily on tearing down buildings after the fact, by which point owners have often sunk significant capital into the structure and tenants may already be in occupation, making enforcement politically and financially costly.

Why Enforcement Has Weak Teeth Today

Independent research on Ghana’s utility sector shows the country already has some documentation requirements on the books. A Penn Institute for Urban Research study of Accra’s informal settlements found ECG typically asks new customers for a land title, site plan and building permit — but that slum residents in areas like Agbogbloshie and Chorkor generally cannot produce this paperwork, pushing many toward informal or illegal connections instead. Guidance published for prospective ECG customers similarly notes that a building permit or development approval “may” be requested, rather than being a strict precondition in every case.

That gap between what is technically required and what is consistently enforced is exactly what the proposal targets. Ghana Water Company Limited coverage estimates suggest urban water supply is already unevenly reliable, and separate reporting has flagged non-revenue water — including illegal connections and meter bypass — at roughly half of what utilities pump, an indication of how loosely metered supply is currently policed.

How It Would Work in Practice

The Flood Risk Angle

Much of the argument centres on waterways and flood-prone land. Buildings erected on drainage channels and wetlands routinely feature in Accra’s recurring flood events, and the proposal argues that once such structures receive electricity and water, they gain a de facto legitimacy that encourages further settlement around them. Making utility connection conditional on permit status, the author argues, would stop utility providers from unintentionally underwriting construction in areas that were never supposed to be built on in the first place.

Protecting Vulnerable Households

To the proposal’s credit, it does not ignore the equity problem this kind of rule creates. Low-income households are disproportionately likely to build informally, often because permit systems are slow, expensive or opaque. The author calls for a transitional regularisation window for existing buildings, a transparent appeals process, and faster, published permit timelines from MMDAs — arguing that a strict utility-linked policy is only fair if the approval system itself is reformed in parallel. Structures on waterways or reserved public land would remain excluded from regularisation regardless of how long they have stood.

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