A week-long massive clean-up exercise has commenced at the Onion market and scrapyard area at the Agbogbloshie Market in Accra to bring sanity to the area and secure the land for future development.

This follows the relocation of most of the traders in onion and scrap dealers from the area to a new site at Adjen Kotoku in the Ga West municipality in the Greater Accra Region yesterday, the deadline of the seven-week ultimatum the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council (GARCC) had given for the relocation.

Thursday, a team from the GARCC and the Ablekuma Central Municipal Assembly, with the support from security persons, stormed the Agbogbloshie area to begin the clean-up exercise in the reclamation process.

The relocation, clean up and reclamation form part of the Regional Minister, Mr Henry Quartey’s “Let’s Make Accra Work” initiative aimed at decongesting the Central Business District (CBD) of Accra to ensure the free flow of vehicular traffic and give it the national capital image Accra requires.

Thursday, the Daily Graphic joined the team for the exercise and observed that although there was an initial resistance from some traders, they later had to comply and move out as the team began to demolish structures.

The exercise

When the team arrived at the area as early as 6 a.m., the Onion market had already been deserted, with only a few traders loading their wares onto trucks, ostensibly to move out as well.

Members of the security agencies, including the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), were present to man the area and ensure the exercise was devoid of any mishaps.

The waste management company, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, also had a team present to support the exercise with logistics, comprising tipper trucks, bulldozers, an excavator, as well as towing cars.

The security personnel formed a human wall along the stretch where the operation was taking place, while the road was blocked from the Central Mosque traffic light to Agbogbloshie, only allowing vehicles to exit the area but not to enter or pass through, as was often the case.

Once the team was sure that no life would be put in danger, the bulldozers were set to work, pulling down all structures <\_> kiosks, metal containers and other structures that served as shops for some of the traders <\_> turning them into rubble.

The exercise, which was largely successful, exposed tonnes of rubbish, mostly rotten onions that had been dumped indiscriminately.

The strong stench that emanated from the area, particularly the onion market, highlighted the unhygienic conditions at the place.

After the demolition of the structures, trucks were loaded with the rubbish, which was transported to the Nsumia landfill site in Nsawam.