Cape Coast, July 03, GNA – The Central Region Development Commission (CEDECOM) in collaboration with Zoomlion Ghana Limited have begun a disinfection exercise for hotels, tourist attraction centres, pubs and restaurants in the Region.
The disinfection exercise, which started in Cape Coast on Thursday, July 02 and expected to be completed in two weeks, is in preparation to the re-opening of businesses after the easing of the COVID-19 restrictions by the Government.
The exercise is being done in phases with the first phase expected to benefit over fifty (50) hotels.
Government as part of measures to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, imposed a ban on public gatherings and social events while hotels, bars, restaurants among others were closed.
However, on Sunday, May 31, the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo eased restrictions imposed on public gatherings, as part of measures to restore socio-economic life but with strict adherence to safety protocols.
Mrs Dorcas Lomotey, Senior Project Officer at CEDECOM in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said CEDECOM, with the mandate to promote tourism in the Region found it prudent to support hotels and restaurants to disinfection to boost customer confidence as they prepare to re-open.
She said hotels and restaurants which temporarily stopped operations in the wake of the COVID-19 were not in the position to pay for the cost of the disinfection exercise which was crucial to their operations.
“Considering the Covid-19 pandemic and the measures government has put in place with some protocols, CEDECOM thought it wise to offer some help to the hotels since they had not been in business for a while”, she said
She underscored the importance of the disinfection exercise to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in the region described as the ‘tourism heartbeat’ of the Country.
“The Central Region is surrounded by regions that have recorded high COVID-19 cases, therefore, it is important that we do these exercises regularly because anybody could come from these regions to sleep at a hotel here”, she said.
Mrs Lomotey said the hotels only paid 50 percent of the disinfection cost while CEDECOM and Zoomlion absorbed the rest.
She urged other entities in the hospitality industry who wished to have their facilities disinfected to contact CEDECOM for the necessary arrangement to be made for them to benefit from the package.
Mr Jerry Louis Afoakwah, Central Regional Business Development Manager of Zoomlion, said the disinfection exercise formed part of the company’s support for the fight against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said a certificate would be issued to the hotels after the disinfection and urged the public to keep patronising the services of the hotels because they were safe.
Mr Afoakwah said before the outbreak of COVID-19, hotels were mandated to do intermittent disinfection but many of them were not complying and urged all hotels to ensure the proper disinfection of their facilities.
Mr Benjamin Aidoo, Chief Executive Officer of Nokans Hotel in Cape Coast, said staff members of the hotel had been well trained to ensure strict adherence to all the safety protocols to stem the COVID-19 pandemic.
GNA