An exercise to capture all businesses in the Tema Metropolitan Assembly into the tax net has started to increase the revenue of the assembly.
The exercise, to be undertaken by about 90 national service persons, will enable the assembly to increase its internally generated funds .
That was disclosed by the Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) Mr Isaac Ashia Odamtten, in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Tema.
He expressed his enthusiasm to collect as much revenue as possible to be able to develop Tema.
Mr Odamtten noted that the service persons had formed nine teams with one team comprising 10 persons, and would trace businessess within the assembly to register them.
He said the population of Tema had over-grown its capacity and many more businesses had come up but escaped the lens of the assembly.
Mr Odamtten said the situation had led to the woefully inadequate revenue collected to solve the numerous challenges in the assembly.
He said the persons had been instructed to work hard to make the exercise yield the required results.
Mr Odamtten said the service persons would be accompanied by the assembly’s revenue officers who knew the jurisdiction of the assembly.
Operators
He appealed to business operators and all revenue-generating entities to collaborate with the teams to enable the assembly to perform its responsibilities.
Mr Odamtten advised residents who operated within the peripherals of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly but were in doubt as to where they belonged to check from the assembly so as to avoid paying rates to agencies outside the assembly’s jurisdiction.
He described the boundaries linking Spintex to the motorway and areas such as Gbetsile as difficult boundaries, and appealed to revenue-generating entities to ensure they cross-checked where they belonged.
Mr Odamtten announced the intention to automate some lorry parks in the central business area of Tema to ensure the security of vehicles parked there.
He lamented the haphazard way some drivers parked their vehicles in the area and hinted of plans to decongest the area, ensuring that hawkers who had illegally displayed wares by the sides of the roads were moved.
Mr Odamtten stated that the shoulders of the roads would be well marked and car owners who would want to park for short periods could do so, while city guards watched the vehicles for a fee.
He charged the waste management department of the assembly to ensure that all sewage problems were solved within six hours to rebuild the confidence residents had in the assembly.
Haulage Trucks
Mr Odamtten said waste management had always incurred the displeasure of residents, and urged the personnel of that department to sit up by changing their attitude to work.
He said the assembly had a vision to capture the interest of people in the assembly to make them ready to pay their rates to help it grow its revenue for development. On the movement of trucks in the assembly, Mr Odamtten said the assembly was working with the authorities at the Tema Port to institute a park for all haulage trucks currently scattered on the roads of the assembly.
Mr Odamtten revealed that no port city could thrive without the presence of haulage trucks, but noted that their movements would have to be controlled to curtail the nuisance they caused.
He assured residents of good service from the assembly to restore the lost beauty of the port city.