Executives of Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association and their members have assured the Government of their readiness to relocate to Afienya.
Addressing the media in Accra on Tuesday, Co-Chairman for the Association Mr.Clement Boateng, said the issue of relocation has been on the drawing board for over thirty years as their predecessors had all appealed to successive governments on this issue so they are however surprised the so-called ” National Concerned Spare Parts Dealers Association ” held a press conference against the initiative.
Mr. Boateng added that the current Executives also continue by putting requests to all the aspiring presidential candidates during the tour in the run-up to the 2020 general elections.
However, upon assumption of office, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey had a meeting with them and those at Kokompe and pledged his Government support by putting up an ultra-modern West Africa Automotive Hub which will include Shops, Workshops, Vehicle Sales Centers, Financial Institutions, One Bedroom facility, Hospital, Police Station, Supermarkets, a railway line to transport their goods from Tema to the Site, Stadium, Schools, Restaurants and Custom bonded warehouse.
According to Mr. Clement Boateng, the proposed areas have been Afienya, Dawenya, Pokuase and beyond.
But the Regional Minister made it known to them that the available land now is the one at Afienya.
They, therefore, conveyed the message to their members at a general meeting to solicit their views on the project where they had overwhelming support from their members.
Soon after that meeting, the shop owners started to express their displeasure about the project.
Meanwhile, the Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association have had several meetings with the Shop Owners and has assured them that, nobody is going to be forcefully ejected from Abossey Okai.But they seem not to be satisfied and have decided to kick against the project.
They believe is the Shop Owners who are behind the so-called National Concerned Spare Parts Dealers Association to kick against the laudable project.
But the Association will not let the project slip out of its hands because of the selfish and parochial interest of the minority to the detriment of the majority. The world is evolving and is about time we adjust ourselves to meet the demands of the growing automotive industry, he added.
He concluded by putting on record that, currently Abossey Okai has close to 5,000 shops and as of November last year over 2,500 people had registered to move with them to Afienya and even that, they have to halt the registration as a result of an appeal by the shop owners brought before them that because of the registration, people are not patronizing their shops anymore so if they had continued with the registration, by now one can imagine the number of people they would have registered.
Story by: Nana Kwasi Ampofo
