Wood workers at the Sokoban Wood Village in the Ashanti regional capital Kumasi have appealed to government to extend a helping hand to give the roads and sewage systems at the centre a facelift.
The Wood Village currently sheds carpenters, machine operators and wood sellers who identify themselves as Logs and Lumber Sellers’ and providing lumber services.It also serves as a hub for many other groups of informal economic actors, including auto mechanics, cassava and palm kernel processors, and ‘chop bar’ (local food restaurants) vendors.
It is one of the biggest wood villages in Ghana that was inaugurated by the former President of Ghana John Agyekum Kufuor.
Some of the leaders of wood workers at the village who spoke to SilverFM’s Afia Broni narrated some problems they often face when transporting wood products to and from the centre due to the bad nature of the road network.
The agitating operators also bemoaned poor sanitation and improper waste disposal at the Sokoban Wood village.
”The bad nature of our road network is our major problem especially when bringing in loading trucks to load and offload wood products”
”We are also faced with challenges of extortion from security agencies on the roads when transporting and importing wood products”
”The authorities were unable to provide some sectors with sanitation bins and the roads also luck proper drainage systems and so the gutters are always choked” the traders lamented.
The wood dealers therefore appealed to the government to come to their aid and improve the poor conditions at the Wood Village for them to go about their work.
The wood sellers also complained of poor sales after President Akufo Addo lifted a three week partial lockdown in Greater Kumasi,Greater Accra,Tema Metropolis and Kasoa.
The wood village includes the construction of sheds, access roads, electricity and reliable water supply on 12.35 hectares.
Most of the wood workers were relocated from their workplace in the neighbourhood of Anloga, in the city of Kumasi to the newly created Sokoban Wood Village.
The town is under the jurisdiction of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and is in the Nhyiaeso Constituency.
Source: silveronline
