The Local Government Minister, Mahama Ayariga, says government is exploring a financing framework that will 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, but work is yet to resume on the scale expected by traders and residents.
During a recent working visit to the project site, Local Government Minister Mahama Ayariga disclosed that government is considering expanding the capacity of the facility to accommodate about 4,000 stalls.
He said under the proposed financing arrangement, funds for the project would be mobilised through rent payments from traders who will occupy the facility.
“We’ve realized that if we actually rent out the 4000 spaces that we have, we should be able to use it to complete the t 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.
So, in discussions with STMA ( Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly)and then also the ministry and then the contractors, we’ll get back to Ministry of Finance and conclude the discussion about how to collect the money from those who want spaces in the market and use it to complete it and hand over”, he explained.
Mr. Ayariga also explained the processes involved in expanding the market to increase its capacity and accommodate more traders. He said , “there’s actually a possibility that we can expand the project, because the project was initially designed to be over 4,000 trading spaces at the point of financing conclusions, they were told that they couldn’t get that full amount for doing 4000 trading spaces, and so they had to cut it down to 2700 thereabouts. But the foundation and the infrastructure was maintained to be able to support 4,000 trading spaces, but it is designed for 2,700. So part of the deliberation has been: Is it possible at this stage to insert the components that would increase the number to about the 4000, and the contractors tell us that if we actually do that, we will be saving ourselves a lot of money because the foundation is already done, the roofing has also already been done, so it’s just the middle edifice.”
Meanwhile, some market women who spoke to Empire FM have expressed concern about the proposed rent-based financing model, describing it as unsustainable and questioning whether traders would be able to bear the financial burden.
