La Beach Towers: a dream continues to haunt Accra’s waterfront

Following my recent piece on the fascinating history of Shangri-La Hotel, a surprisingly large number of people have asked me to write something about another iconic abandoned property, La Beach Towers (picture attached), a gaunt tower astride the La Beach road.

Frankly, I didn’t find the story titillating enough to deserve its own Scarab post, especially also as it didn’t hit enough of the development policy notes that often excite me. But given the interest, and the fact that there is quite a bit of misinformation still milling about (including claims that it was abandoned because it started to “sink”), I thought I should do this quick overview.

I should probably rephrase a bit. Yes, there are some very curious ADJACENT stories about the people involved and the project itself, but each probably works best in their own piece, hence my initial hesitation. Nonetheless, some of the disparate themes could still be worked into a coherent story.....