KUMASI MAYOR ENGAGES TRANSPORT UNION EXECUTIVES IN THE METROPOLIS
The Mayor of Kumasi, Hon. Sam Pyne has met the various Transport Unions executives within the metropolis to discuss issues pertaining to their operations and jointly plan how they can find solutions to their challenges as well as how they can see to it that decisions they jointly take would be adhered to.
Issues discussed included On-street activities, Illegal loading points, Congestion situations in the CBD, Multiple stations at terminals and Weak Enforcement Activities.
On On-street activities, the Mayor said the KMA implemented the policy in 2015 after the Kejetia relocation in 2014 for the reconstruction of the Kumasi City Market, which was supposed to be a stop gab approach which was nicely done at the initial stage until later the Trotro and taxi operators abused the system.
He said the end result of the abused system was the chaos that we were witnessing in town recently.
With reference to illegal loading points, the Mayor noted that there were some routes that were not assigned to the transport operators but those were the ones that they had added to their operations. He added that other On-street stations also allowed other people to come in and set up stations at places that they know were not supposed to be there.
He mentioned places like Pampaso, Komfo Anokye Round about and others which were steadily turning into stations, noting that they were all illegal long distance routes.
On Congestion situations in the Central Business District(CBD), the Mayor said he was alarmed at the rate at which drivers had turned stopping and parking places into loading points. He said there was congestion at even entry points into the City and other intersections.
A typical example according to him was the frontage of KATH Polyclinic from the Military entrance to the roundabout where he added that even ambulances struggled to pass through.
Hon. Sam Pyne on Multiple Stations at the terminals described it as a major problem facing the City.
He said the effect of transport operators setting up multiple stations was that passengers rather preferred to stand by the roadside and take the ‘waawaa’ vehicles than to rather go to a station.
The MCE noted that the Metro Guards who are supported by the MTTD to enforce the law were also compromised by the transport operators to the effect that, they gave the operators protection to do their business and rather arrested those who did not accept to participate in those scheme.
Hon. Sam Pyne entreated the transport operators to come onboard and deal with all these issues to have a smooth sail in transport activities in the Kumasi Metropolis.
STORY: EMMANUEL ANTWI JNR