Decongestion of New Juaben Municipality begins

An exercise started yesterday to rid the New Juaben Municipality, especially Koforidua, which doubles as the municipal and regional capital, of unauthorised structures and filth. A special Municipal Assembly Task Force, comprising personnel from the military, the police, the assembly, prisons and fire service which carried out the exercise, demolished structures on pavements within the central business area.

The exercise was preceded by a series of announcements which were started in November last year by the assembly.

While some of the traders removed their structures themselves, others were adamant and as such had theirs demolished by a bulldozer.

The Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Alex Asamoah, told the Daily Graphic in an interview that the exercise was being undertaken in phases and that the second phase would be carried out on Friday, April 12 during which all unauthorised structures at the lorry parks would be demolished.

He said such unauthorised structures had to be destroyed because most of them served as kitchens where firewood, charcoal and even gas were used, and this, he said, if not checked, would eventually lead to disaster.

According to the MCE, the assembly had to give a human face to the exercise with persistent announcements from November last year during which the owners of the affected structures pleaded for more time which was extended to December and to January and finally to March during which many of them removed their structures.

He said the assembly had prepared a place for those on the pavements and hawkers at the Zongo Market and did not understand why they do not want to go there.

Mr Alex Asamoah, who indicated that the exercise would not be the usual nine-day wonder, said it would be sustained to rid Koforidua of unauthorised structures and filth to befit its status as a municipal and regional capital.

He called on the general public to support the assembly in carrying out the exercise, which, according to him, was long overdue.

While traders in the Central and Zongo markets hailed the exercise as the best thing to do so that buyers would only have to purchase commodities at the markets instead of doing so on the pavements, others were of the view that sustaining the exercise would deprive those on the pavements of their livelihood.

Story: A. Kofoya-Tetteh