Market women at the Achimota market as well as drivers who ply the Pokuase-Achimota-Circle highway are protesting the closing of a bus stop at the foot of the Achimota overhead towards Circle.
The bus stop which serves as offloading point of goods for the market women and a brief stop for the drivers of VVIP, STC and other long haul vehicles to drop off and pick passengers has been locked down by the Okaikoi North District Assembly. The Assembly has erected barricades to prevent drivers from making the brief stops.
The District Chief Executive for the area blames the bus stop for the huge pile up and congestion of cars (traffic) at certain times of the day, particularly mornings. Until the closure, the location under the footbridge was a popular stoppage point for trotro drivers. The bus stop has also served as a taxi rank for dozens of taxis, which pick up fares from offloading long-distance passenger buses.
The assembly is however unhappy about the constant traffic that has been caused by the drivers at the bus stop since they crowd the space and mostly spill on to the main road causing vehicular traffic on that stretch. Many people also believe that the latest effort is to force local drivers and passengers to use the new Achimota Market Complex.
However, the drivers, market women and the people living around the market as well as Akweteyman, are angry over the decision to lock down the bus stop. According to them, the closure has compelled them to walk about four hundred meters or more to the next bus stop at Tesano to board a vehicle to either Circle or Accra.
The market women complained that the decision of the Assembly also costs them more to cart their products to the Achimota market since the drivers drop them off at the Tesano bus stop instead of the one under the overhead which offers them easy access in to the market. They believe the decision will throw many of them out of business since they cannot bear the extra transport cost this decision has slapped them with.
The decision also has the potential ton discourage many users of the market, who would be denied easy transportaion after buying at the Achimota Market.
The drivers and the market women, numbering about 15, thronged the offices of Swift Media Ventures, publishers of the Daily Searchlight Newspaper, early this morning to vent their displeasure at the Assembly’s decision. The drivers contend that the decision not only affects their sales but also the people traveling from Kumasi and other parts of the country to Achimota and other surrounding communities. They are therefore calling on the Assembly to reverse the decision and decommission the pillars erected on the edge of the bus stop to allow their business to continue.
The Daily Searchlight will make further details available on this developing story.
