The Chief Executive Officer of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Richard Ofori-Agyeman Boadi, has appealed to traders who were still owing their five-year premium payment for stalls at the Kejetia Market to pay by December 31, 2026, or risk losing their stalls.
He said the reluctance of traders to pay their premium, had affected the plan to generate sufficient funds from Phase One of the project to finance the construction works on the Kejetia Market redevelopment phase II, with proceeds from Phase Two then to be used to fund Phase Three.
Speaking at a stakeholder engagement on the completion of the phase II of the project, Mr Ofori-Agyeman Boadi stated that unfortunately, the funds raised from Phase One could not fund Phase Two, compelling the government to contract a €248 million facility to fund the project.
The engagement, which had in attendance, the Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, was attended by representatives of various market groups and the leadership of the firm executing the project, Contracta.
It provided an opportunity for the officials to engage the traders on efforts being undertaken to complete the project.
No early allocation
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr Frank Amoakohene, cautioned that allocation of stalls for phase two had not commenced and cautioned the traders against the payment of monies to people with the hope of securing stalls ahead of time.
“Desist from paying huge sums of money to people to secure shops for you in phase two. After completion, the registration that has already been done will be used for the allocation,” Dr Amoakohene stated.
Work resumption
Mr Ayariga also informed the meeting that construction work on phase II will resume in October this year, towards its eventual completion.
He stated that already, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the government and Contracta, paving the way for a roadmap towards the completion of the long-awaited project.
The Project Consultant, Tony Yeboah Asare, said as far as the project was concerned, it could be completed with a year and a half, however, there were some concerns that had to be dealth with.
“As far as construction is concerned, the project can be completed within a year and a half.
“However, the issue of concern is the pre-operational activity involving the management, how much traders would pay and how the allocation would be done, saying “these are the key issues that government must deal with for the facility to work properly as it should”.
