Yilo Krobo Assembly reactivates Somanya lorry station

The Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly has in collaboration with the United Drivers Association (UDA) under Ghana Private Roads Transport Union (GPRTU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has put measures in place to revive the Somanya Main Lorry Station.

Also known as the Akutunya Lorry Station, the move is intended to bring sanity to the transportation system in Yilo Krobo.

The assembly and the UDA have also partnered transport unions including the GPRTU and Progressive Transport Association (PROTOA) among other transport unions in the municipality to find a lasting solution to the lack of a lorry station.

The main objectives of the assembly, UDA and the transport unions among other things is to bring all drivers in the municipality under one umbrella, making the Akutunya Lorry Station the main lorry station as it used to be, regulating transport fares within the Somanya township, especially taxis and tricycles and making Somanya the main stop for travellers to the Yilo Krobo area.

These came to light at a stakeholders meeting which also included the Board of Directors of UDA at Somanya last Sunday, on the theme, “Ensuring Sanity in Road Transport Operations in Yilo Krobo”.

The CEO of UDA, Jacob Narh Tsaatse, noted that the Akutunya designated lorry station, which is in the heart and central part of Somanya and also close to the Somanya Post Office, the municipal chief executive residency and the Akutunya Main Market among other stores and public facilities, was designed to improve the value chain of the station’s operation and sustainability.

He said due to the strategic location of the market and the lorry station, it was easier for market women to get transport which conveyed their farm produce to the market and ensured that they were equally transported back home safely after the close of business.

He said that had been successful in the past but since the lorry station ceased to operate because drivers were picking passengers along the stretch of the road at Somanya, many market women had decided to send their produce to the Agormanya Market in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality, denying the Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly of the needed revenue.

“In view of these challenges, the UDA being headquartered at Somanya realised the need to partner the assembly and the transport unions to revive the station and restore it to its past glory,” Mr Tsaatse stated.

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The Yilo Krobo Municipal Finance Officer, Christian Hottor, who represented the assembly, said “The assembly, the UDA and the transport unions have agreed that, henceforth, all drivers travelling outside Somanya, especially to Accra, Koforidua, Kumasi, Tema, Ashaiman and Takoradi among others should load at the main station and get the ticket from the main station.

It is only the assembly tickets that would be issued at either the barrier near the assembly or any designated place,” Mr Hottor said.

The Chairman of the UDA, Anthony K. Nartey, said the Somanya Transport Station issue had been a major concern for not only transport owners but all other stakeholders including travellers for the past 16 to 20 years and hoped the measures put in place were going to yield positive results.