A combined force of the Sunyani Municipality Assembly and the police on Friday demolished all unauthorized structures and cleared street hawkers from the pedestrian pavements and the streets in Sunyani. The staff of the Volta River Authority (VRA) and some patriotic citizens also took part in the exercise. Kwame Twumasi Awuah, Municipal Chief Executive said that the exercise was aimed at decongesting the streets of Sunyani as unauthorized and unkempt structures had marred the beauty of the regional capital. He noted that Sunyani, which used to be one of the beautiful towns in the country for its well-planned lay-out had lost this status with the increasing population, some of whom have not shown any respect for the law. He said personnel of the Ghana Fire Service found it difficult getting access to scenes of fire out-breaks due to the activities of the hawkers and the illegal structures. Mr. Twumasi Awuah cautioned that "the assembly would not sit down and allow people to take the law into their hands by destroying the beauty of the town" and appealed to residents to co-operate with the task force. Henry Boateng, municipal engineer, said the task force would use three days to complete the exercise at the airport, central business centre and New Dormaa, a suburb of Sunyani. The engineer noted with regret that owners of structures marked by the assembly to stop work had ignored the order. "All such marked structures, including kiosks and containers will be cleared to pave way for the free movement of pedestrians and vehicles", he added. Mr. Boateng said new structures erected along the streets and unauthorized places would be marked for their owners to remove them by May 15 this year. "The tax force will not accept pleas from such owners but will go on to destroy such structures after the deadline", he said, adding members of the public were happy with the exercise. Source: GNA