Accra, June 29, GNA - Mr Nii Armah Ashitey, Greater Accra Regional Minister, on Monday said the more sustainable way of decongesting the city was to relocate the numerous bus terminals and major food markets out of the city centre.

"I am of the firm belief that the removal of traders alone from the streets will not solve the problems of running the cities, particularly the Accra metropolis," he said. The minister was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the reconstituted Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinating Council (GARCC) in Accra.

The GARCC is a regional administrative body that monitors and co-ordinates the implementation of government policies and development programmes in the region.

Mr Ashitey said the major reasons for the congestion were the hauling of all sort of goods and people to the city centre. He said the Tudu bus terminal in Accra, Neoplan bus terminal at Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Timber Market, the yam and other food markets, including Sodom and Gomorrah, would be relocated. Mr Ashitey stated that in the view of urban planning experts, more satellite markets of specialised food items should be designed and well located away from the city centre.

He said unless these exercises were successfully carried out "we will not be able to increase revenue mobilization, improve waste management, respond to disaster situations and other emergencies speedily".

The minister expressed regret about the weak nature of statutory planning committees of the district assemblies' and their unwillingness to enforce the basic bye- laws the assemblies had passed. Mr Ashitey said another thorny issue in administering the city was the problem of land tenure, adding that the situation had been worsened by many chieftaincy disputes and land litigations that engulfed all parts of the region.

He therefore called on the chiefs and traditional rulers to come together and reduce disputes to the minimum and make land available for more profitable commercial and agricultural uses. Contrary to the notion that the Region did not produce food, he said statistics indicate that it had the best potential for vegetable production, fruit growing, fish farming, horticulture and animal husbandry.

In view of this, he said, the Accra Plains Irrigation Project, which had been on the drawing board since 1960 would take off soon, and expressed the belief that this was a sure way of solving the unemployment problem.

"We must therefore use agriculture as an avenue for job creation in the fight to reduce the rural/urban drift," he said.