AMA awaits funds for two market projects

Accra, May 20, GNA - The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) is waiting on the Ministry Finance to release funds for the development of two separate market projects costing 9.5 billion cedis to accommodate traders displaced following the decongestion exercise.

Mr Stanley Nii Adjiri Blankson, AMA Chief Executive, said on Friday that the two projects, which would accommodate a total of 4,400 traders, were to be sited at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and Agbogbloshie.

They were to have been developed within two months after the decongestion exercise last February if funds had been available. Speaking to Journalists after making a statement at a forum on "Creativity in Rubber and Plastic Waste Management", organised by the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), of the Central University College (CUC) in Accra, Mr Blankson said the projects had become even more urgent with the onset of the rains.

The AMA Chief Executive appealed the hawkers to make use of alternative places provided them as his outfit dialogued with the Local Government and Rural Development Ministry to raise money from the Finance Ministry for the projects.

Mr Blankson said the clearance of traders from the streets had eased traffic congestion, saving time for vehicular movement that would boost investor confidence.

He announced that the AMA would hold a meeting with Local Government and Rural Development Minister on the raising of money for the project next week.

The AMA Chief Executive had asked the forum attended by students of the CUC, Fire and Prison Services, and primary, junior secondary, and technical schools in the Mataheko neighbourhood in Accra, to be custodians of the city and to impress on the public to keep the city clean.

The SIFE is an international students' organisation formed in 1975, in the United States of America, with branches in more than 1,500 campuses around the world.

Dr Ivy Drafo, a Faculty Advisor of the CUC said the SIFE took the initiative in discussing topical issues and linked the classroom with reality in attempts to find solutions to problems.

The CUC branch of the SIFE is currently engaged in project, called the "Zero Waste Project" that emphasises the segregation of waste as a means of dealing effectively with the plastic waste menace. It has provided garbage bins to the residents in the Mataheko neighbourhood in addition to education on the disposal of plastic waste as well as periodic plastic waste collection exercises.