The collection of the mandatory on-the-street parking levy by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly was scheduled to begin today, Tuesday.
However, as at 1 pm on Tuesday when Prime News Ghana visited the site, we were met with the absence of the uniformed personnel assigned by the AMA to collect the fees.
Shop owners at the area confirmed that although they had heard the announcement and were aware that some officials will be deployed to collect the fees, they had not seen any yet.
Several vehicles were however parked at the demarcated spaces, with most of the drivers and businesses going about their daily activities.
Last week, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly notified businesses and drivers in the area of their intentions to charge them a levy for parking in those spaces.
Car owners are expected to buy a sticker for GHC8 and subsequently pay an amount of GHC4 every day for parking, while other guests who do not have the stickers will pay GHC2 for every two hours.
The announcement was however met with mixed reactions as some individuals believed it was a burdensome fee which will put more strain on the pockets of drivers and businesses.
Others also thought that once the funds generated from the street parking levy would be used judiciously as promised, it will go a long way into making the city more organized and ease the congestion.
Meanwhile, the AMA boss, Mohammed Adjei Sowah has said that the AMA is open to negotiations with companies within Adabraka that may want to offer some relief to their workers or clients when the collection of the street parking levy begins.
“Our offices are wide open and they are serving the people of Accra. We are serving the various institutions, so once you come with genuine concerns, we can always negotiate with you… I know that the Ghana Revenue Authority had written to us that they are appealing to us to waive it for them because they are a government institution so we are looking at it,†the AMA boss noted.
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