The Head Office Annex of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), near the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, Accra, which was destroyed by fire will be opened for business in July this year.

The office has remained closed since December 2019 following the inferno which affected the archives unit of the GRA which is housed in the office.

As part of contingency arrangements for taxpayers to be served, staff of the gutted building had to work at the headquarters, the Kinbu branch, Adabraka branch and a building across the street from the gutted building.

The acting Commissioner General of the GRA, Mr Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, after planting a tree at the head office of the authority yesterday in support of the government's Green Ghana project, said rehabilitation work was almost complete on the building.

Mr Owusu-Amoah said currently the GRA head office annex was being furnished, and it was scheduled to be completed by the end of June after which GRA staff would relocate to their former offices in July.

Appeal

The Green Ghana project is aimed at planting more than five million trees across the country in a day.

Speaking to journalists after planting a seedling with other commissioners, Mr Owusu-Amoah urged Ghanaians to desist from destroying the environment because the adverse effects of climate change also hurt the economy.

He said the authority was supporting the Green Ghana initiative because a green vegetation would guarantee the health of the people which would enhance productivity and boost the economy.

He said the authority would plant trees on the compounds of all its offices across the country while its staff had also been encouraged to plant trees in their homes too.

To taxpayers and business owners, Mr Owusu-Amoah appealed to them to also support the Green Ghana project by planting trees on the premises of their companies and in their homes.

He urged the citizenry to pay more attention to environmental issues to sustain the economic growth of the country.

Planting trees, he said, would help fight climate change which posed serious risk to the country's economic growth.

"This activity is very important. A green environment is important because it will reduce the cost we incur as far as medical bills are concerned. We must all join hands and plant trees in our offices and homes, gardens, farms and everywhere," he said.

Nurturing

He appealed to every one who planted a tree to nurture it by watering it and caring for it to ensure it grew into an adult tree.

"It is important to pay attention to the seedlings we plant so that they grow to adult trees. If we lose all the trees and the environment is destroyed it means we cannot exist as humans as when the last tree dies the last man dies," he said.