Anyaa lorry terminal not in use four years after completion

Drivers of Anyaa Market and its environs within the Anyaa East Electoral Area of the Ga Central Municipal Assembly are not happy with the delay in commissioning of the Anyaa Lorry Terminal by government.

Aggrieved drivers lament it is very sad and disheartening to see a nice edifice built by the former President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama not being used despite taxpayers' money being used to build the lorry terminal.

Wofa Yaw, a driver in an interview said the lorry terminal has not been put to use for almost four years after completion and due to that, known and unknown people have used the place as their homes.

"Any passer-by could enter the terminal to take a rest because it is no man’s land with some hustlers also sleeping here and some residents have also used the place as a crusade and funeral ground".

Wofa Yaw revealed that, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of the terminal as crusading and funeral grounds had stalled due the Government’s suspension on public gathering as a measure of containing the spread.

Since the lorry terminal has not been opened, the drivers had also forcefully started using the entrance of the terminal to pack and load passengers, adding that if the terminal was open, there would be no car loading passengers and offloading goods on the street.

Explaining the cause of the delay, he said there was a misunderstanding between two chefs who are from the same mother but different fathers and this resulted in the unsettlement of whom the land belongs to.

This has also led to the delay of the commissioning of the lorry terminal and in essence, the government has placed a sanction on the terminal but already both chiefs had slaughtered goats, poured schnapps and rained curses on one another should any of them lead the commissioning of the terminal without the concern of the other.

Some market women interviewed also said since the terminal was not commissioned, youth in the area had turned it into a park where the play football but due to COVID-19, they had stopped coming.

Speaking to the Assemblywoman of the area, Madam Victoria Korang said that, measures were fully put in place for the lorry terminal to be used by taxi and commercial ‘trotro’ drivers within the shortest possible time.

She said Dr Emmanuel Lamptey, the Municipal Chief Executive of Anyaa and other authorities above her had assured her of re-opening the lorry station this year, 2020.

Madam Korang said the Urban Roads Authority was also working judiciously towards the lorry park for it to be put to full commercial use.

Mr Charles Nchambla, a Unit Committee Member in the Area said since the terminal has not been commissioned, men and women go to the terminal to have their private chat.

“Mostly in the evening, I do see men and women at the terminal as they sit, hold their hands, and have their lovers talk’’ he said.

He stated that the caretakers at the terminal do allow ladies who do not have homes to sleep at the terminal, adding that: “Most ladies who don’t have places to sleep are allowed to sleep there and in return, they would help in fetching water for them and this has made the terminal to become more or less like a Hall”.

Mr Nchambla said that the caretakers had been asked several times to relocate from the terminal but they have turned a deaf ear saying that, they usually would say the Government should compensate them before leaving the place.

This, they say because “We have been keeping the place neat, cleaning, sweeping and weeding around among others”.

He continued that, the caretakers sometimes allow people to have engagement, weddings, funerals, crusades for a fee.

He added that some scrap dealers come to sleep at the terminal after a long day activity of roaming and not getting any work or money, adding that the caretakers at the terminal also bring their girlfriends and allow their friends to also bring their girlfriends over.

“This behaviour of the caretakers have indebted the government with millions of Cedis approximately GH?6,000 because they use water and electricity for free” he noted.

Mr Nchambla mentioned that the caretakers at the terminal do not value the watchman who has been assigned to guide the place because they have links with one of the Zongo Council Secretary.

“Due to their link and friendship with one of the Zongo Council Secretary, they have taken the place as an Entertainment Centre’’ he said.

“As the watchman saw that, he was not getting some of the money from the caretakers, he went to report the case to the MCE and this limited some of the activities that go on at the terminal,” Mr Nchambla stated.

He also revealed that the terminal was supposed to be commissioned in this month April but due to the pandemic, it could not take place, adding that now he doesn’t when it will be done.

He went on that, there is an unsettlement between the two chiefs and in a way of promoting peace, and the MCE has negotiated with them to make peace for the terminal to be commissioned.

Until the terminal commissioned, the indiscipline of people would continue to go on at the terminal.