The TDC Development Company Limited has explained that not all open spaces within its acquisition area are meant for recreational centres, but are mostly undeveloped and are potentially useful for future developments.

"No open space in our acquisition area lies fallow; we have all our lands schemed so no community can lay claim to any area merely because they have for long used such areas for recreational facilities such as football parks," Mr Ian Okwei, TDC Protocol and Administrative Officer, said.

Mr Okwei said open spaces in the Tema acquisition area of 63 square miles of public land were not necessarily designated for football parks or recreational centres, emphasizing that, the fact that some laid fallow presently did not mean those lands had no legitimate owners.

Mr Okwei made the remarks at the fourth "GNA Stakeholder Engagement and Workers' Appreciation Day" Seminar at the Tema Regional Office of the Ghana News Agency.

The monthly Stakeholder Engagement is a progressive platform created to give opportunity to state and non-stake institutions to interact with journalists, which also serves as avenue to address national issues as well as throw more light on the company's mandate.

He said: "There's nothing like "no man's land" as has become popular particularly in Tema; in fact, nobody owns any land in the Tema acquisition area; the lands were vested into the care of TDC per Parliamentary approval," adding that open spaces were earmarked in most jurisdictions for future developments.

The TDC Protocol Officer noted that as and when lands were needed for state projects, the state mostly writes to the TDC to know the availability of reserved lands and such lands were readily released for government projects.

Mr Okwei, touching on a roadmap fashioned out to address disagreements over allegations made by some members of the Ashaiman Municipality, he noted that some progress had been made with the initiation of a dialogue at the behest of the company to resolve the situation in the interest of the parties involved.

Mr Francis Ameyibor, Tema Regional Manager, GNA, in an introductory remark, said, the Stakeholder Engagement was a platform created to deepen a mutually beneficial working relationship with stakeholders to ensure both the media and corporate entities work together towards national development.

The engagement, he added, served as a motivational mechanism to recognise the editorial contribution of reporters to the professional growth and promotion of Tema GNA as the industrial news hub, while contributing to societal growth.

According to him, Government, Civil Society Organisations and other stakeholders could use the media more effectively as an instrument for social change, and said, the media was a powerful tool which must be used strategically for effective change towards national development.

Mr Ameyibor said in modern development, "you ignore the media at the peril of the state, the organisation or an agenda; so we must work together, creating an enabling environment for trust and collaboration because the media is simply indispensable for democratic functioning of the state."

Other speakers at the engagement were: Superintendent Kwabena Otuo Acheampong, Regional Crime Office, Tema Regional Police Command; Mr George Okwabi Frimpong, a long-standing member of the Licensed Surveyors Association of Ghana; and Mr Benjamin Peh, Acting Head, Research, Business Development and Innovation, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).