KMA courts corporate Kumasi in decongestion exercise

Kumasi Mayor, Samuel Sarpong is courting the business community to support the metropolitan assembly to succeed in its special decongestion exercise.

Decongesting the central business district has always been a great concern to the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA).

“The situation reached an alarming rate when vehicular and pedestrian movement was nothing to write home about with its anti-social vices like pick-pocketing, snatching of people's property in crowded places, excessive generation of refuse which made the city unattractive in an era where tourism is being promoted”, Mr. Sarpong observed.

The KMA embarked on the current decongestion exercise in September last year, with the aim to ensure all trading activities on pavements of the CBD ceased.

Barely a year into inception, the Metro Chief Executive notes the purpose of easing vehicular and human traffic “has received mixed reaction, which is both negative and positive from the residents of the metropolis and even beyond”.

Mr. Sarpong says contrary to perception that the decongestion exercise has prevented people from earning a living, the programme has been hailed as a healthy one that has the potential to bring sanity to the metropolis because “majority of hawkers lining up the streets have stalls and shops within the markets but prefer to be on the pavements”.

The Mayor was addressing a forum organized by the Ashanti regional branch of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) for members to appreciate the ramification of the exercise on healthy commercial environment.

He identified some challenges which threaten the effectiveness and sustainability of the exercise, including new strategies by recalcitrant hawkers and drivers to flaunt the rules of the exercise. Some members of the decongestion taskforce have also been found culpable of compromising the effectiveness of the programme.

Mr. Sarpong has called for the support of the business community in improving conditions at the satellite markets as well as waste management.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh