Businesses to be relocated from Old Fadama and CBD

Accra, June 9, GNA - Government is to relocate all business activities at the Central Business District (CBD) and Old Fadama to Adjen Kotoku, located on the Accra-Nsawam road as part of the Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration Project (KLERP).

The relocation is to stop all human activities that contribute to the destruction of the Korle Lagoon which has been described by environmentalists as one of the most polluted water bodies in the world.

In an interview with the GNA on Tuesday, Mr. Sam Baidoo, Chief Technical Advisor to the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing, said government had acquired about 800 acres of land at Adjen Kotoku where new housing projects, commercial and industrial areas would be developed.

"These will include the development of timber and bulk breaking markets, residential areas, access roads to Adjen Kotoku, water supply, sewerage treatments and water drainages", he said. He said the redevelopment of Adjen Kotoku, which ias phase 4 of the KLERP, would also include the provision of transport terminals, educational, health and security services.

Mr. Baidoo said the project, which is ongoing, is sponsored by the government, BADEA, OPEC Fund and the government of Kuwait. He said the overall concept of the relocation was to have an integrated community and the improvement of the living standards at the new location.

"This concept was developed under the slum upgrading strategy in the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy 11", he said. The project would be completed in June 2011 would also affect areas such as the Agbogbloshie and timber markets and squatters around the KLERP