The Local Government Minister, Mahama Ayariga, says the government is exploring a financing framework to facilitate the completion and expansion of the stalled Takoradi Market Circle project.
The €48 million market project, which commenced in 2021 under the previous administration, has remained incomplete for several years despite successive assurances that it would be completed.
Since assuming office in 2025, the Mahama-led NDC government has reiterated its commitment to completing the project. However, work has yet to resume on the scale expected by traders and residents.
During a recent working visit to the project site, Mr. Ayariga disclosed that the government is considering expanding the facility’s capacity to accommodate about 4,000 stalls.
He said the proposed financing arrangement would involve mobilising funds through rent payments from traders who would occupy the facility.
“We’ve realised that if we actually rent out the 4,000 spaces that we have, we should be able to use the proceeds to complete the project. The amount of money needed to complete it isn’t that much, so the rental amount will be able to support the completion of the project.
“In discussions with the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA), the ministry and the contractors, we’ll get back to the Ministry of Finance and conclude discussions on how to collect the money from those who want spaces in the market, use it to complete the project and hand it over,” he explained.
Mr. Ayariga also explained the process being considered to expand the market and increase its capacity to accommodate more traders.
According to him, the project was originally designed to provide more than 4,000 trading spaces. However, the scope was reduced to about 2,700 spaces after the project encountered financing constraints.
He said the foundation and other infrastructure were maintained in a way that could support the larger capacity.
“There’s actually a possibility that we can expand the project because it was initially designed to have over 4,000 trading spaces. At the point of concluding the financing arrangements, they were told that they couldn’t get the full amount needed to construct 4,000 trading spaces, so they had to reduce it to about 2,700.
“But the foundation and infrastructure were maintained to support 4,000 trading spaces. The project is currently designed for 2,700. So part of the deliberation has been whether it is possible at this stage to insert the components that would increase the number to about 4,000.
“The contractors tell us that if we do that, we will save ourselves a lot of money because the foundation has already been completed and the roofing has also been done. What remains is essentially the middle section of the structure.”
Meanwhile, some market women who spoke to Empire FM have expressed concern about the proposed rent-based financing model.
They described the arrangement as potentially unsustainable and questioned whether traders would be able to bear the financial burden associated with the proposed rent payments.
Source: www.kumasimail.com
