Kejetia market must set the standard
In 2015, the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), backed by the central government, took the bold decision to reconstruct the Kejetia Lorry Terminal into a modern market edifice to accommodate more shops for traders, as well as serve as a lorry terminal.
The decision was bold because it necessitated finding a new place to relocate the lorry terminal and the many traders in the central business district of Kumasi (CBD) during the construction period.
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Originally scheduled to have been completed in January 2018, the project suffered delays as a result of legal challenges initiated by some individuals against the KMA, and in May this year President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, cut the sod for the second phase of the project, which is the redevelopment of the Kumasi Central Market, to commence.
One of the nagging issues around the Kejetia Market has been the allocation of stores. The KMA registered all displaced traders, with the promise to ensure that none of them was left out in the allocation. But the traders were left in a quandary when the city authorities delayed in keeping to their promise.
The delay in allocating the stores and stalls meant that the market was not going to be opened for business.
At the sod-cutting ceremony for the Central Market Redevelopment project, the Asantehene voiced his concern over the development and charged the KMA to, without further delay, allocate the stores, since the delay had become a major issue for discussion in Kumasi.
While some of the traders expressed fear that even though they had shops in the old market, they might not have space in the redeveloped one, there were those who also had concerns about the amount of money they were to pay to secure spaces at the new place.
Fortunately, the KMA has announced that the process of allocation has started and will go on till all those qualified have their shops.
In addition to that, the KMA has said in order not to leave out anybody entitled to get a shop, it has initiated an arrangement with Fidelity Bank, so that those who do not have money to buy the shops, whose cost ranges from GH¢7,000 to GH¢40,000, will get loans from the bank to do so and have the privilege to pay back in five years’ time.
The Daily Graphic sees this as welcome news, as the completed project cannot remain shut while traders continue to mark time in uncertainty.
We commend the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) for Kumasi, Mr Osei Assibey Antwi, and his team for the steps they took in ensuring that all the thorny issues concerning the allocation were ironed out.
It is also refreshing that all the 1,500 traders who are benefitting from the first phase of the allocation are happy with the transparency of the process.
Once the facility is ready to be opened to the public, it is incumbent on the managers to ensure that it is put to good use. It is needless putting up such a project if we fail to make full use of it.
The managers must ensure that traders leave the roadsides and move to the market to conduct business there. This will ensure sanity in the city centre and also bring the needed revenue to the assembly.
The Daily Graphic would also want to see premium placed on the maintenance of the facility. This is a multi-million dollar project which must not be allowed to rot.
The unenviable Ghanaian attitude of paying little attention to maintenance must not come to play at the Kejetia Market.
Again, the metropolitan authorities should prevent the situation where some traders would want to occupy pavements and access
roads that prevents emergency services from reaching the market.
It is our prayer that the fairness envisaged in the allocation of shops will be a reality for peaceful operations to prevail at the market.