Nuisance At Tema Port �As Foreign Trucks Obstruct Flow Of Business

The reckless manner in which trucks from Mali and Burkina Faso park on the shoulders of road near the Tema Port is creating a nuisance and contributing to road accidents. The trucks, park at unauthorized areas while waiting to pick transit cargo from the port to their countries. The areas affected most are the dual carriageway from the Tema beach road towards Tema Development Corporation, through the Tema Polyclinic roundabout, the road between the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation headquarters to the Tema Port roundabout and the African Unity road near Community 5. Unfortunately, during the waiting period, their mates engage in cooking, bathing, attending to nature�s call by the roadside and entertaining prostitutes at night and these activities have raised concerns among business owners and public officials whose offices are located in the area. The Tema Metropolitan Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service, William Abakah, has expressed worry about the difficulty they find maneuvering their fire tenders and water tankers during emergencies because of the parked trucks on the shoulders of the road including the area right in front of their office in Tema despite warnings. He said: �Early this week we removed the batteries from the vehicles obstructing our entrance.� Mr. Abakah said the batteries were only returned after executives from the Drivers Union came from the harbour to negotiate with the promise that they would not park close to their entrance again. He appealed to the city authorities to do something about the situation to avoid accidents. The Chief Executive Officer of Accounting Associates, Mr. Seth Adjetey, said every available space on the shoulders of the road near his office which was about 800 meters away from the GNFS office had been filled with trucks making it difficult for them to either enter or leave the office. He said on one occasion he nearly had an accident while leaving his office because the haphazard manner in which the trucks were parked, prevented him from seeing an oncoming vehicle. A security man in the area, Joseph Amuah, expressed worry about the behaviour of the drivers and was surprised that in spite of the HIV.AIDS scourge, prostitutes patronize the trucker�s based in their numbers at night. One of the truck mates Abu Imoro, said they were forced to park on the shoulders of the road because they did not have a designated parking lot. He said they were not happy to do so, because they experience thefts involving their tarpaulins and car batteries. He expressed surprise about the absence of a designated place for trucks in Tema adding that port cities in Cote d�Ivoire, Senegal and Nigeria had safe parking places and they felt at ease when they went to do business there.