An Accra High Court has thrown out a suit seeking to place a perpetual injunction on the construction of Empire Cement Ghana Limited under the One District One Factory (1D1F) project at McCarthy Hill in Accra.

The McCarthy Hill Residents Association in August 2021, went to court to place the injunction on all construction activities by the Empire Cement factory with allegations that they will be affected by air pollution if the factory is allowed to be constructed.

The court, presided over by Justice Joseph Adu Owusu Agyemang, struck out the injunction application after the plaintiffs filed a notice of discontinuance when it became obvious that they have no case in law against the construction of the factory.

The court went ahead to ask the residents association to pay an amount of GHS5,000 to the company for wasting the time of the court and the Directors of the company.

Lawyers for the company after the ruling said due to the injunction application, the company had no option other than to confine themselves to due process but were delighted by the outcome.

According to Empire Cement Ghana Limited, the Plaintiffs have done extreme damage to the company and, therefore, they are seeking advice from their lawyer for the appropriate action to take against the Plaintiffs.

The McCarthy Hill Residents Association was represented by Lawyer Anthony Forson (Jnr) whilst the company was represented by Paul U. Dery.

The court on Tuesday, September 7, 2021, ordered all operations in connection with the construction to halt until a determination is made.

An application to join the suit in support of Empire Cement before the determination of the court filed by a group from Tetegu, a community around the McCarthy Hill area was later withdrawn by them, due to what they described as certain anomalies in their application to join.

The Assembly Members within the Weija-Gbawe Municipal Assembly (WGMA) also on the 13th October 2021, held a press conference to kick against the closure of the Empire Cement Ghana Limited.

According to the assembly members, the factory which was about 85 per cent complete fell under the government’s flagship programme, "One District, One Factory” policy and did not understand why it was closed down by the Environmental protection Agency (EPA)

They called on the government to investigate the EPA describing their treatment towards the company as unfair.

The factory is envisaged to create about 13,000 direct and indirect jobs for the youth in the area when operationalised.