The elegance, glitz, and glamour that gave the interchange and its enclave the name “Dubai” have all faded away, creating a spectacle of disorderliness in the area.
Once described as ‘Ghana’s ‘Dubai’, the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange and its enclave have become a sorry site as squatters, addicts, street beggars, destitutes, traders and preachers have taken over the place.
Aside the place being taken over by beggars, squatters, destitutes and drug addicts, the large pillars carrying the cross beams of the $275million iconic interchange have all been defaced with posters of aspirants for political party positions, assembly members, church crusades and other advertising materials.
The underbridge has become a safe haven for persons with mental health challenges, drug addicts, destitutes and migrants from neighbouring countries, who go about begging with careless abundance as city authorities appear helpless.
Not even the planting of mini-boulders under the bridge will deter people from occupying the spaces there as sleeping places both in the afternoon and at night.
Despite complaints by some members of the public, the situation keeps getting worse as the numbers of those creating the chaos continue to increase.
Apart from the aesthetic disorder that greets visitors to the area, the pungent odour from the Odaw stream irritates visitors to the place.
People who go to the area are not spared either by the deafening noise emanating from the numerous public address systems mounted by the various transport operators and preachers there.
The unchecked manner in which some recalcitrant pedestrians abandon the concrete paved walkways, preferring to use the well-manicured green lawns created as part of the greenery and beautification of the area, has caused the withering of the green grass, leaving greater portions of the lawns bare.
Some of the rails that serve as protective barriers for vehicles plying the flyover have been broken, while a few of the PVC pipes laid to collect rain water from the interchange into the underground drainage system have also been destroyed.
In addition, most of the street lights, decorative lights and traffic lights put in place to illuminate the area at night and control traffic flow are either broken down or out of function.
Compounding the situation is the reckless and haphazard parking of commercial vehicles, comprising ‘Tro-tro’, taxis and commercial motorcycles (‘Okada’) at unauthorised places.
Indiscriminate hawking and selling on the shoulders of the roads and the pedestrian walkways there also add to the disorder.
Some of the destitutes who spoke to the Ghanaian Times said they worked as loading boys for transport operators in the area and could not afford rent charges in Accra.
A cart (truck) pusher denied that he was a junkie but agreed that some of his colleagues were into drugs such as tramol and weed, as well as alcohol.
Asked if he was concerned about how theirs and other activities were destroying the aesthetics of the area, he said, “we only sleep under the bridge and don’t go about dirtying the place. It is those who sell food and pure (purified) water that make the place dirty”.
Some of the traders told the Ghanaian Times that they had been forced to sell on the pedestrian walkways due to the destruction of their market by fire in 2020.
Madam Elizabeth Asare, who sells female dresses, said she was forced onto the street because her container and wares were destroyed in the fire.
She explained that despite assurances to redevelop the market for them to get a decent place to sell, nothing had been done.
“They only came to spread stone chippings there and demarcated the place for us to use, but when it rains, the place becomes so nasty that we are unable to use it,” she said.
When contacted, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the Klottey Korle Municipal Assembly, Mr Samuel Adjei Tawiah, said the situation was a worry to the assembly and so it continued to find workable solutions to restore the place to its former glory.
He said one major challenge was the negative attitude of the citizens towards the beautification of the municipality.
Mr Tawiah said a number of measures had been put in place to help bring sanity to the area, and these included collaboration with the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council and neighbouring assemblies.
He noted that in the interim, a special task force had been formed to deal with the issue of squatters and traders who had taken over the pavements and pedestrian walkways.
In addition, the MCE said, the assembly had been engaging the political parties to put a stop to the indiscriminate posting of advertising materials on the interchange.
Mr Tawiah said plans were afoot to replicate the beautification of the African Union Roundabout in Kwame Nkrumah Interchange area.
“We are engaging to see how we can collaborate with the private sector to convert the lawns within the interchange area into some sort of recreational areas, where the public can patronise. It could become some kind of business but we are still thinking through it,” he said.
Touching on the pedestrian market destroyed by fire about three years ago, he said its reconstruction was being delayed by the Grater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) project.
He said the GARID project was one that would deal comprehensively with flooding in Accra, adding that, “I am sure you’re aware that where the market is located is exactly where the drain that carries water from the Paloma area through Asylum Down into the Odaw passes. So we have been asked to hold on until the GARID project is completed.”
The MCE said once the project was done, there would be no issues of flooding in the area and the market would help to decongest the area.
Concerning destitutes and migrant beggars, he said the assembly was still engaging all the necessary stakeholders since the situation was beyond its mandate.
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
