In fulfillment of the government’s campaign promise and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto, President John Dramani Mahama has cut the sod for the construction of a flagship 24-hour market in Bimbila, in the Nanumba North District of the Northern Region.
The Bimbila project forms part of a nationwide rollout targeting all 261 districts, with modern markets designed to operate round-the-clock and equipped with critical facilities to drive commerce, support farmers and sustain continuous economic activity.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, President Mahama underscored the government’s strategy to position markets as engines of growth and spaces where goods, services and money circulate efficiently.
“This was part of our promise to stimulate economic activity in all parts of the country and one of the things that stimulates economic activity is markets”.
He said “that activity, not only does it exchange goods but it also circulates money within the economy and so one of the major ways to stimulate economic activity and to circulate money in the economy is to build markets”.
Under the programme, each facility will feature warehouses, clinics, banking services, restaurants, fire and police posts and a school to support traders.
The President also noted that Bimbila was selected for the model market due to its strong agricultural base and its status as the largest producer of cereals, legumes, and other staple foods.
“Yours is one of the largest model markets because the Bimbila area is the largest producer of yams, it’s one of the largest producers of maize, it’s the largest producer of beans, groundnuts I mean just name any product and Bimbla is the epicenter of agricultural production.
“And so in this market, you’re going to have 10 warehouses, 10 big-sized warehouses where you can keep your food products safely and come back and pick them for redistribution”, he told the Bimbila Regent and traders in the district.
However, he also stressed the need for a seamless link between farms, markets and households, noting that access to reliable markets is critical to unlocking the full value of agricultural production.
“If you farm and you don’t have a market to sell your produce is useless and so there must always be a linkage between the farm and the market and the household and so the market is the interconnection between the food on our table and the farmer producing in the field”, he stated.
Meanwhile, President Mahama also called on contractors to deliver high-quality work, emphasizing the long-term importance of the project while tasking the district assembly to ensure effective management through a dedicated 24-hour market administration system.
Beyond infrastructure, the government says the initiative is expected to create jobs and deepen agro-processing.
Later, the President, accompanied by Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrusu and other senior government officials inspected the ongoing construction of a 3-story, 300 bed capacity hostel for the Bimbilla EP College of Education to assess the progress of work.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh/Abdul-Hanan Adam
