Sand winners call for relaxation of bureaucracy

Accra, May 28, GNA - The Asomdwe Co-operative Drivers Association and the Awutu Efutu Gomoa Sand and Gravel Winners Association in the Central Region on Thursday called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other stakeholders to address the bureaucracy that characterized acquisition of permits for sand winning. The two associations have also called for a reduction of licence fees as well as a properly defined method of acquiring land from the chiefs and other owners.

At a meeting in Accra with officials of the Lands Commission, the EPA and chiefs from Awutu Efutu Gomoa areas, members of the two associations said the high licensing fees coupled with the delay in acquiring the lands as well as high prices of equipment used in winning sand made them to incur loss.

They said the police had also erected so many check points on the road where personnel manning them demanded various sums of money from the drivers who carted the sand. They said the situation had not only rendered their business unattractive but also made it impossible for them to pay meaningful taxes.

The associations said this had also resulted in their inability to pay for the services of bulldozers to reclaim the portions of land where sand winning was done, a necessary condition for further release of lands.

However, officials of the Lands Commission and the EPA as well as chiefs from the areas where sand winning takes place, insisted that the associations should do proper reclamation of the lands to ensure that the lands could be used for other purposes after the sand winning was over.

The meeting was sponsored by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenged Fund (BUSAC).