The Obuasi Municipal Assembly has embarked on a week-long decongestion in Obuasi as part of efforts to beautify and keep the city clean and safe.
The exercise, which sought to rid the municipality of unauthorised structures, saw many structures pulled down under the supervision of the Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Elisha Adansi Bonah.
Traders, who sold on the streets, were also removed to improve traffic flow, especially in the Central Market area with the support of the Police.
Other areas that were affected by the exercise were Gauso Mangoase, Bidiem and Kokoteasua, where illegal permanent structures were also demolished.
At the onset of the exercise, temporal structures that were mounted along the Obuasi Technical Senior High School fence wall and served as safe abodes for criminals that occasionally attack students were demolished.
The illegal structures also aided some students to scale over the school wall to town without using the approved exit gates.
Mr Adansi Bonah said the exercise was informed by the Assembly’s determination to ensure sanity in Obuasi while protecting lives from the dangers associated with selling at unapproved places in the Central Business District.
“As an Assembly we cannot continue to allow people to take the laws into their own hands, build structures and even sell on the road. We believe after the exercise, Obuasi will regain its bragging right as the cleanest city in Ghana,” he told the media.
He said the Assembly gave prior notice for people to remove the affected structures, but they did not heed to the numerous warnings.
The MCE said the Assembly was committed to allowing businesses to thrive, but not at the detriment of the safety of the public.
“This will be a continuous exercise and we are going for a court order which will empower the Assembly to serve notices to those who have built their structures without obtaining a permit from the Assembly,” he cautioned.
Mr David Agyei, the Municipal Works Engineer, bemoaned the level of lawlessness in the society, saying that it was unacceptable for people to build without applying for a permit from the assembly.
He said that practice if not checked, would lead to impunity and the consequences could be disastrous.
He, however, served notice to owners of unauthorised structures yet to be demolished to take steps to salvage whatever they could because the Assembly was poised to bring down all such structures.