By Hassan Osman Kargbo
Following a stiff resistance by businesspeople at the Central Business District -CBD during the government’s plans to decongest the city, which was extended to include the city of Bo, the Bo City Council (BCC) has called on the security forces to join the Metropolitan Police to ensure that the CBD is totally decongested.
They made this call during a stakeholder meeting that was summoned by the Assistant Inspector General of Police South, Brima Kanneh, at the Southern Region Police Headquarters in Bo, on Tuesday, 12th September, 2023.
The meeting was attended by prominent stakeholders in the municipality such as the Paramount Chief of Kakua Chiefdom, PC Prince Lappia Boima, who chaired the meeting; the Mayor of Bo City, Kobba Musa; the Brigade Commander and; executive members of the Sierra Leone Traders’ Union, among others.
At the meeting it was resolved that effective Thursday, 21st September, 2023 the Bo City Council Metropolitan Police will be joined by members of the Sierra Leone Police (SLP), soldiers and the Road Safety Corps to decongest the Bo CBD.
According to PC Prince Lappia Boima who chaired the meeting, the Bo Central Business District has been made visibly unkempt by street trading and illegal parking in the heart of the city, and that ‘decongesting the CBD is a good step in the right direction’.
But, he noted that the necessary apparatus for the decongestion should be in place because some traders may not adhere to it.
Making his statement at the stakeholders meeting, the Brigade Commander, Brigadier General S.T. Kanu advised that a grace period should be observed before the council and its partners commence “Operation weed off”, adding that BCC should embark on educating the public and sensitising business people about the said plan.
Speaking to Forum News SL, the Head of Media and Communications outreach of BCC, Ivan Vandi stated that ‘this is no longer a push back but rather the Council is trying to eradicate or weed out street trading from the streets of Bo’.
He added: ‘This is no longer a push back, but we are trying to weed street trading off from Bo, and also illegal parking for trucks and other vehicles is prohibited. The council has been pushing traders off the streets, but then after sometime those traders will come and congest the streets again.’
He continued that heavy duty trucks are not allowed within the CBD, either for loading or unloading within the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
He said if they want to offload within the said hours, they must use the Mission Road and later use their smaller delivery vans to transport whatsoever to their respective places ‘because Mission Road is not busy and is somehow broader’.
He empathised that ‘the reason behind this is the council wants to see that there is law and order in the city’ because people are in the habit of occupying areas from their shops to the street, which normally disrupts the free flow of traffic in the city.
‘The stakeholders have resolved that businesses will only stop at your shop’s veranda. Any extension beyond the veranda we will weed the person off because they will be disrupting the free flow of traffic,’ he stated.
