By William Yaw Owusu
Wednesday, 16 August 2006
A SPECIAL revenue mobilization exercise embarked upon by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) yielded ¢990 million in four days.
The exercise which started last week is to redeem debts owed by business entities with the AMA Business Operating Permit.
Briefing the media in Accra yesterday, Stanley Nii Adjiri-Blankson, Metropolitan Chief Executive, said "in response to the need to meet our increasing infrastructural and social commitments, the AMA drew up a comprehensive plan to mobilize all revenue due the assembly in accordance with our rate imposts and fee-fixing resolution for this year."
He said the AMA has established task forces in all the 13 sub metros and an additional one at the headoffice under his supervision to collect all debts owed the assembly.
Mr Adjiri-Blankson said the AMA needs ¢2.5 billion monthly to pay for refuse collection and ¢3.8 million for the maintenance of refuse dumps and landfill sites adding that "without the needed revenue generation the AMA will suffer."
He said that the next phase of the exercise involve the collection of property rates from property owners scheduled to start from September 15 to November 30.
He said the assembly had put measures in place to plug revenue loopholes adding, "as I speak to you, two of our revenue collectors are being prosecuted in Court for alleged illegal revenue collection while four others at the Okaikoi North Sub-Metro are on interdiction for the same offence."
On the Hawkers Market at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Mr Adjiri-Blankson said it is expected to be completed by the end of September "basing any unforeseen circumstances."
He said that all registered hawkers will move to the market by the end of October after which "street hawking will become an offence punishable in accordance with the AMA by-laws."
Nii Adjiri-Blankson said he market has been designed to contain a police post, health centre, fire service station and a kindergarten to ensure that there was sanity in the area.
He said he had deliberately refused to mention the fee for the acquisition of a stall in the market because "some crooks will take advantage of the situation to defraud people under the pretext of getting the stalls there."
He said that the AMA will construct about 40 public toilet facilities in the metropolis by March 6, next year.
He also said the AMA is "institutionalizing clean-up exercise until such time that residents see the need to keep their surrounding clean."
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