Krofrom Traders Want Abandoned Market Completed

Residents and traders at Krofrom, a suburb of Kumasi want government and city authorities to expedite action on the Krofrom Market project which has been left uncompleted for over a decade.

According to them, this leaves the area with no proper market structure.

The Krofrom market project which is situated on a vast land is aimed at increasing retail space in the Kumasi metropolis. Work commenced on it in 2008.

The structure, when completed, will have 72 open market stalls with 32 individual stalls.

In all, the market will have 2,304 single stalls.

There will be three shopping blocks which will have anchor spaces for banks, shops, retail outlets, leisure centre, warehouses, offices, clinics, pharmacies as well as police and fire station, a car park, auxiliary floors, daycare centre, refuse collection sites and toilet facilities.

The 1st phase of the project, which includes the construction of washrooms, cold stores, bulk breaking point, food court, fire and police post, was projected to be completed by March 2010.

For over a decade, the project remains uncompleted.

Citi News' visit to the area revealed that weeds had grown on the land and work had stalled.

This situation is a source of worry for the residents and traders in the area and they are calling for the project to be completed as early as possible.

“We are pleading with the government to complete our market for us. The old market was demolished before the construction of Asawase, Tafo and other markets but those projects have been completed but ours still remains uncompleted. It's been 10 years since the market was demolished for construction to begin,” a trader pleaded.

“It's about a decade but this market structure has not been completed. We don't get people to buy our goods since we don't have a proper market structure here so as traders, we always incur losses. We are calling on Nana Akufo-Addo to help complete the project,” another trader stated.

According to the residents, the uncompleted structure has become a haven for criminals.

They say wee smokers hide in there to engage in dubious activities.

They added that security in the area close to the structure is worsening as criminals snatch bags and rob people of their belongings and rush quickly to hide inside the structure.

“Thieves snatch people's bags and run to hide inside the uncompleted structure. They also smoke inside the building. This project has to be completed to relieve us of the inconveniences we face.”

The Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Osei Assibey-Antwi in a Citi News interview said his outfit has helped secure funds and work will soon begin to complete the project.

“After the assessment by the Finance Minister (sending a team to evaluate the project), the debt unit also coming out to assess the project and really evaluating the stance of KMA vis a vis evaluating our ready to pay back the loan we want to take, now, we have received the no objection from the Finance Minister to borrow and as such, we've gotten back (Fidelity Bank) which has given us the approval to grant us the loan to complete the project”.

—citinewsroom