The demolition of roadside structures, call boxes and other small kiosks started Wednesday under the supervision of municipal, administrative, and security officials.

The efforts aimed at restoring urban order is spearheaded by Limbe City Mayor, Motanga Andrew Monjimba, in collaboration with the Divisional Officer, DO, for Limbe I Subdivision, Gilbert Acha Nkwenti and the Mayor of the Limbe I Sub-divisional Council, Florence Eposi Mbwaye.

Accompanied by the forces of law and order, the demolition sledgehammer and bulldozer have already fallen on makeshift structures along major streets in Mile 4, environs of the Mile 4 Bus Station, Mile 1, Half-Mile, New Town, and Cassava Farms among others. Structures are extensions erected without authorization from the authorities were pulled down and others carted away.

The demolition of semi-permanent and makeshift structures in the town of Limbe first started in 2016 as the city prepared to host the 2016 African Women’s Football Cup of Nations.

The exercise soon went comatose and has now resumed four years after. Authorities say the delay was aimed at giving enough time for owners and operators of these structures to seek alternatives.

Suffice to mention that the 2016 demolitions had attracted a lot of bashing from the masses, including from the political and religious class. The former Bishop of the Diocese of Buea, Monsignor Immanuel Banlanjo Bushu had expressed fear the demolitions had been intended to settle political scores.

But in the wake of the unresolved Anglophone conflict and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the repressive action of the Limbe authorities has taken many by surprise.

Although those affected have been cursing the authorities for carrying out the demolitions at this time, others acknowledge the fact that they had been notified and sensitized long ago but did not know when the exercise will start.

Since 2009, the city of Limbe has witnessed a tremendous face-lift under the Motanga era, the ruling class says, pointing to the infrastructural development of the town that has been phenomenal. Tarred roads, new market buildings, a new office complex in Mile II, beautification of the Community Field roundabout, construction of culverts, installation of road signs, beautification of the front view of the Limbe Regional Hospital at Mile One, new structures for the Mile Four Motor Park, two amusement and recreational spots at Mile Two and Mile One among others are there for all to see.

In fact, Restaurant La Cascade, The Dorade, The Pride, the City Hotel, and the City Restaurant Bar & Grill at Karata can hardly escape the view of city dwellers and visitors alike.

There have been other social landmark deliberations such as the white city project entailing the painting of houses white, the demolition of makeshift and dilapidated structures along the streets of Limbe as well as traffic lights on all major road junctions in the city.

With Motanga at the helm of the Limbe City Council, several roads which where hitherto nightmares for commuters were graded, these include; the Cassava Farms-Lumpsum road, the stretch from National Comprehensive High School to Bota Hospital, the police road etc.

Many say it is the construction of the Community Field-Bota stretch of road at the early days of his stewardship that endeared Motanga to the masses. Roads had been a very worrying issue for the populace.