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The Project Consultant for the Kwabenya Landfill Site, Mr Frederick Adu Danquah, has told the Judgement Debt Commission (JDC) that the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) used GH�25,000 (250 million old cedis) to buy drinks for Kwabenya chiefs in 2003. Giving evidence at the JDC sitting yesterday in respect of the state acquisition of the Kwabenya Landfill Site in Accra, Mr Danquah said the presentation of the money for drinks � out of the funds provided by the World Bank � was to facilitate negotiations and pave the way for the construction of the landfill site. He told the JDC that the government started the process for acquiring the 364-acre land in 1995. He said around 2003, the AMA used the Gh�250 million for drinks for the Kwabenya chiefs �to start negotiations for the land�. Mr Danquah said the World Bank decided to fund the Kwabenya landfill project as part of the urban improvement programme. He said residents of Kwabenya started agitation against the construction of the landfill, following which an inspection team from the World Bank went to assess the situation on the ground and eventually gave the go-ahead for the project to be carried out. He said the World Bank and a technical team set up by the government recommended settlement packages for the affected people. He said it was only in 2007 that the government acquired the land through an Executive Instrument (EI). Mr Danquah said due to the delay in the start of the project, many people had encroached on the land. He said the World Bank decided to pay compensation to all the owners of the 76 structures on the land, as a result of which US$1.473 million was allocated for the payment of compensation to the owners. However, he said, only 28 of the 76 owners presented their documents to the Lands Commission for the compensation. He said the rest of the owners rejected the compensation, which made it impossible for the government to even pay the compensation to the 28 applicants. Mr Danquah said the continued agitation by residents against the landfill project, as well as massive encroachment of the land, forced the AMA to take a decision to discontinue the Kwabenya landfill project. Recall The Sole Commissioner of the JDC, Mr Justice Yaw Apau, last week asked the government to consider giving back the landfill site at Kwabenya near Accra to its original owners to save the state from incurring judgement debts. He said since the state had not paid compensation to the owners of the land since the acquisition in 2007, interest on the compensation kept rising. Therefore, he said, if the decision to use the land for a landfill project had changed, the state would have to release the land to the owners to avoid accumulating more interest.