By Augustine Asiedu Asamoah
Kasoa (C/R), Oct. 4, GNA – The Awutu Senya East Municipal Assembly has given traders occupying road spaces at the Kasoa New Market a final notice to vacate to ease worsening congestion and improve safety.
The directive covers traders operating on pavements, buffer zones, the lorry park and portions of the road, where their activities have compounded congestion amid ongoing construction works around the market.
Mr Seth Sabah Serwornoo-Banini, Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), said the Assembly had to reclaim the spaces because construction of culverts and drains had further reduced the road available to motorists.
He said sections of the road had been blocked to enable the construction works, forcing traffic onto the principal stretch and worsening delays, particularly on Tuesdays and Fridays when trading activity increased.
Mr Serwornoo-Banini said a journey from Kasoa to Ofaakor, which ordinarily took less than 15 minutes, could take up to two hours, while a trip from Colomba Junction to the area around “My Child” could take between 45 minutes and one hour on market days, instead of less than a minute.
He said the occupation of the lorry park, pavements, buffer zones and portions of the road by traders further restricted the space available for vehicles to stop, pick up and drop off passengers.
The MCE said the existing road configuration was essentially one lane in and one lane out, making the available road space critical to maintaining movement.
He said the congestion also posed risks to pedestrians who were being forced to share road space with vehicles.
Mr Serwornoo-Banini said there had been incidents in which vehicles crashed into roadside traders and their wares, stressing that the Assembly could not continue to allow people to risk being knocked down.
He said the Assembly had engaged the affected traders through its task force and market associations on several occasions before issuing the latest directive.
The MCE explained that some traders had been moved from their sheds to the lorry park during the COVID-19 pandemic to create space for social distancing, with the expectation that they would subsequently return to their original locations.
He said some had instead remained at the lorry park and gradually extended their activities onto pavements and portions of the road.
Mr Serwornoo-Banini said the Assembly had demarcated the affected areas and directed traders not to extend their wares beyond the designated lines.
He said while some traders had complied and moved their setups back, others were waiting for enforcement to begin.
The MCE said the Assembly had agreed to give the affected traders “a couple of weeks” following an intervention by the Member of Parliament for the area, after some traders appealed for more time.
He said the exercise was not intended to deprive traders of their livelihoods but to restore public spaces and improve movement within the municipality.
Mr Serwornoo-Banini said the market had spaces for traders to operate and that the Assembly also had to consider the effect of the congestion on residents and businesses.
He expressed concern about food being sold close to busy roads, saying fumes and smoke from vehicles could settle on exposed food and pose health risks.
The MCE said pavement reservations were an important part of development planning because pedestrians also required safe spaces to move.
He said the Assembly was constructing a 1.2-kilometre bypass from the Colomba area to Datus to provide an alternative route and reduce pressure on the principal road.
Mr Serwornoo-Banini appealed to traders to cooperate with the Assembly as it implemented the decongestion measures.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey
4 Oct. 2026
Reporter: Augustine Asiedu Asamoah