New Juaben Assembly begins decongestion exercise
The New Juaben Municipal Assembly is to begin a massive decongestion exercise in Koforidua on Wednesday to bring sanity and raise the status of the Regional capital and the seat of administration of the municipal assembly.
It would be supported by the security agencies as well as the Municipal Guards unit, Public Works Department (PWD) and the Works Department of the assembly.
The exercise would concentrate on demolishing structures that had been erected on streets, pavements and all unauthorized places creating traffic and human congestion of the entire municipality. The exercise will also stop hawking and trading activities on pavements.
The target areas are the Central Business District area, the new lorry station where unauthorized structures had sprung up creating problems for the travelling public as well as the Ghana Commercial Bank, Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and Unibank streets and Pintoa Wala, behind the Koforidua Polyclinic.
Traders had taken over the streets and pavements of Koforidua to the extent that pavements and roads have become trading places for the traders who had deserted their stalls in the market.
Many people had complained about the safety of the traders and hawkers who had taken over the roads, particularly that of the Ghana Commercial Bank, Unibank and the central markets area and the welfare of pedestrians who are forced to compete with cars on the small spaces left as a result of the trading activities.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Alex Asamoah, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the exercise would be sustained and assured that after the initial demolishing of unauthorized structures, a team would be tasked to patrol the areas to achieve the ultimate results.
He emphasized that the exercise was not politically motivated and that it was aimed at ensuring that the right thing was done and that everyone must adhere to the laid down rules to facilitate the assembly’s development agenda.
The MCE urged the security agencies to go about the exercise in a manner that even resistance from affected persons would be handled with tact and professionalism.
Source: GNA