Top Rank Hotel risks drastic action by the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority, ECTA, due to noise pollution, an insider source has informed.
The imminent sanction, the source said, follows from tons of complaints and petitions by residents of the neighbourhood, who had inundated the ECTDA with reports of acute noise pollution in the vicinity caused by outdoor music by the hotel located by ESBS junction at Independence Layout, Enugu.
The source disclosed, “The major problem is environmental abuse through noise pollution. According to residents, they are unable to sleep at nights, especially at weekends due to heavy sounds emanating from a live band in the hotel’s garden. And our staff, who were directed to verify the complaint returned with a damning report.
“The petitioners said all attempts to appeal to the conscience of hotel management had fallen on deaf ears. In fact, according to one of the petitions, Top Rank Enugu management has no fear of God.
“It is for complaints such as this that the Executive Chairman of ECTDA , Barr. Uche Anya, recently convened a town hall meeting where he invited church leaders, mosque leaders, and hotel, club, event centre, and restraint proprietors and gave them a ninety-day ultimatum to dismantle all outdoor speakers or face the wrath of the law.
“Although it is not yet 90 days, the outcries over Top Rank have become so intense that ECTDA is left with no choice than to take a drastic action to restore sanity in the neighbouhood,” our source stated.
However, asked about the action ECTDA planned to take, the source said it was an official matter, but that they would act within the ambit of the law setting up ECTDA.
But an Enugu resident familiar with the activities of ECTDA said the sanction could come in the form of a heavy fine, sealing up of the hotel or even demolition, depending on the offices involved.
