Decongestion, clean-up on Graphic Road today
About 600 security personnel will be in attendance to supervise a major decongestion and clean-up exercise on the Graphic Road in Accra today.
From the Obetsebi Lamptey Interchange to the former Farisco Traffic Lights and to the TUC, the security officers would ensure people, including traders operating on the pavements and medians are moved and the areas cleared of filth.
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The exercise is part of the ‘Make Accra Work’ initiative, which is being undertaken by the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), with support from the security agencies.
In attendance will be the Regional Minister, Mr Henry Quartey, who is personally leading the campaign to make Accra work.
Zoomlion Ghana Limited will provide logistics for the decongestion.
Return of traders
Meanwhile, some of the traders, who were cleared from the pavements in the Central Business District (CBD) barely a month ago have returned.
During a monitoring exercise by the Daily Graphic last week, it was observed that the traders had defied directives to keep off the pavements and had displayed their goods there, with some spreading their wares by the roadside.
It was also observed that barricades which were placed there to secure the area had been pushed to the ground while brisk business activities were going on.
Furthermore, majority of the seedlings that were planted by the Forestry Commission (FC) to ensure sustainability of the initiative had also withered.
Some of the goods the traders displayed included foodstuffs, clothing and jewellery.
Traders lament
A vegetable seller, Madam Vivian Amoako, said although she respected the directive of the minister to vacate the pavement, she had nowhere to go than to sell there to make a living.
She said she tried several times to secure a shed in the market but the place was full.
Madam Amoako, therefore, said if the authorities wanted traders to leave the pavement, they should provide them with alternative trading sites.
A yam seller, who gave her name as Eunice, said she was part of traders whose shops were affected in a fire outbreak at the Odawna Market, but the government had not made any provisions for a suitable place for them to trade, forcing her to occupy the street.
She said the authorities could not say that they were getting rid of traders on the pavement while they had not provided any alternative for them to trade.
She said she did not find any pleasure selling in the hot sun on the pavement but she also could not sit at home while her children went hungry.
Relocation
Meanwhile, the RCC has started a process to relocate some traders in the CBD to the Adjen Kotoku Market in the Ga West Municipal Assembly (GWMA).
The move is to ease congestion and ensure free flow of vehicular traffic within Accra.
The targeted groups are traders who engage in bulk breaking activities in some of the busy markets in the metropolis.
