Managing Director of Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) Mr. Ossy Onuko
said it will not surrender the Awka Capital City Master Plan to stubborn artisans who refused to vacate unapproved locations within the area after a series of warnings.
Angel Network News reports that Onuko said this in Awka on Saturday while speaking on the ongoing enforcement of ban on trading on illegal and dangerous locations in Awka.
Onuko said the agency had confiscated wares of some of the traders who displayed on roads, drainage and walkways during the awareness campaigns last December but released them with a warning that the culprits should not go back to such unapproved locations.
According to him, before Christmas, we went for enforcement, we confiscated the goods of some of them and there was this particular woman among them who came to my office premises crying her heart out.
“I heard her voice from my office and came down to hear out. After pleading, I directed that all her wares should be returned to her without paying a dime, and I warned her not to go back to the place she was dislodged.
“Can you imagine, this woman was among the people we evicted just yesterday. This is the case with so many of them” he said.
He said there was no going back on the Awkaa urban renewal project no matter the blackmail.
A visit by reporters to Goodwill Juncture, Okpuno showed that all the traders who were dislodged from the road had returned thereby constituting traffic nuisance.
Meanwhile, the ever busy Club Street, popularly known as Abakaliki Street is wearing a new look following the evacuation of all the shanties on the road.
Businesses under the 33KVA power transmission lines which attracted and endanger thousands of lives of people seeking fun under it have also been dismantled.
Speaking on the danger of conducting human activities under power transmission lines, Onuka said it was deadly and warned residents to steer clear of the area.
He said ACTDA would sustain the clampdown on illegal business sites to make Awka wear the ideal look of a state capital and also protect lives of citizens.
“We are mainly traders, we are commercial oriented people but we must do that with decency and under approved laws,” he said.
