By Joseph ETTA in Calabar
The Cross River State Commissioner for Environment Mfon Bassey has made good his order on demolishing illegal structures and sanitizing the state capital, Calabar by demolishing Etim Edem park, one of the largest park in Calabar.
By 12 noon last Sunday, all the containers which formed illegal structures were reduced to rubles with the Commissioner of Environment and Hon. Essien Ayi, the House of Representative member representing Calabar, Akpabuyo supervising.
According to Mfon Bassey, “Motor park is meant to serve the purpose it was created for and not for trading. The traders turn this park into a market thereby causing congestion and obstructing the flow of both human and vehicle traffic.”
The commissioner disclosed to Daybreak that plans are on the way for the Government to construct “Hawkers bays” where all the street traders will be resettled, so as to carry out total and proper sanitization Exercise and cleaning of the City, adding that this will return Calabar city popularly known as the Paradise City because of its cleanliness to its former state.
Over 120 containers and shops attachment were destroyed and demolished.
In a related development, Hon. Essien Ayi told Daybreak, “I built this park when I was the chairman of Calabar South Local Government Area between 1999 to 2002, the park was meant for a motor park and not for trading, Government gets more revenue when the park is used as a motor park and not as a market.”
According to the parliamentarian who is also the Chairman of the South-South caucus of PDP in the House of Representative also disclosed to Daybreak that in the past, this Etim Edem park used to be an Oil company for us, we used to get a revenue of N160,000 daily, but with the coming in of the traders, motorist left the park because of traffic congestion and the revenue started to dwindles too low. If the park was allowed to run properly and effectively, Calabar South LGA where the park domiciled would have been the highest revenue yielding LGA in the state – He stated.
When asked that his political supporters and boys are the ones collecting the revenue, He stated, the revenue they collect is from motor park not from the traders, our supporters don’t deal with traders. Meanwhile, rough days awaits reckless drivers in Calabar – addressing drivers in Calabar in a workshop to train all categories of motorist plying Cross River roads.
Godwin Nyam Director- General, Department of Public transportation (DOPT) stated that the essence of the workshop is to educate motorist on how to behave on the road, where to park their vehicles on the road, where to park commuters, what to do at traffic lights and how to relate with security officials on the road.
According to Nyam, the workshop titled Operation Psych – noting that anyone caught misbehaving, disobeying traffic-light, driving one-way, or parking on the wrong place would be taken to the Psychiatric Hospital to ascertain his state of mental health before meting out the appropriate sanctions against such person.
