The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Ho in the Volta Region, Mr Prosper Kofi Pi-Bansah, has revealed that part of the completed modern market built by the erstwhile Mahama government as part of the GHS28 million Ghana Urban Management Projects (GUMP) but yet to be opened, will soon be inaugurated for use.
According to Mr Pi-Bansah, units of the Ghana Police Service, Ghana National Fire Service, as well as a clinic, which are all attached to the market, will be operationalised in two weeks, with the exception of the main storey building.
The Ghana Urban Management Projects (GUMP) is made up of a modern abattoir, market arena and an engineered landfill site for waste management and recycling.
The project was completed in early 2016 before the Mahama government left office but have been left idle since then.
Mr Pi-Bansah told reporters on Wednesday, 30 October 2019 when he took his turn at the ‘Meet The Press’ event organised by the Ho Municipal Assembly that the needed steps have been taken to officially open the various facilities for use.
“We all know the problem with the market, we are all aware that we are in court with the market women, so, we cannot open it until the court decides on what we are to do, but the other side [the pavilions] are not under litigation so that one we are taking steps, so, let’s give ourselves some two, three weeks the police, the fire service and the clinic will be functioning”, the MCE announced.
The market has over 100 spaces for shops and more than 20 pavilions. Apart from units for the policer, fire officers and a clinic, it also comes with a car park and sanitation rooms.
Squatters took over the edifice, which also got engulfed by filth as a result of its idleness, a situation that recently forced the Volta Chapter of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), in collaboration with Zoomlion Ghana Limited, to organise a clean-up exercise in and around the market to clear tonnes of waste.
Meanwhile, the high court has placed an injunction on the use of the market’s main storey building in connection with a pending case between the Assembly and the Shop Owners Association of the Ho Central Market.
The abattoir, which is also part of the project, was completed in the same year in Sokode, a suburb of Ho but has not been completed.
The GUMP Coordinator, Mr Fugah indicated that the initial cost of the project did not include equipment for slaughtering animals and processing meat, hence the delay in opening the facility for use.
The MCE noted that the Assembly recently partnered a private firm to take charge of the facility to provide the equipment needed for the abattoir to be operationalised.
The accompanying landfill site was built to undertake waste management and recycling at Akrofu in the municipality and completed in 2016.
According to the authorities, it lacks some equipment but that hurdled would soon be crossed for it to be put to use
