Afia Kobi (Abinkyi) Market commissioned
The Afia Kobi (Abinkyi) Market, described as a traditional shopping mall, has been commissioned as a satellite market in the Kumasi Metropolis by Mr. Samuel Sarpong, the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly Chief Executive, with a call on traders and all the transport unions operating at unauthorised places in the metropolis to urgently occupy the facility, as trading at unauthorized places distorts the Assembly’s development plan for the city.
He mentioned Bantama, Suame, Tafo, Asafo and Atonso, among others, as problematic areas where traders trade without authority.
According to him, the government’s policy of public private partnership (PPP), and the idea of build, operate and transfer (BOT) of some public facilities in the country, were the key factors that propelled the KMA to partner with T and K Enterprise Limited, a construction firm in Kumasi, to come out with the ultra-modern market complex.
He explained that the Afia Kobi market was born out of an arrangement between the Country Development Company Limited, a construction firm based in Accra, and T and K Enterprise of Kumasi to build a satellite market to accommodate traders from the central market, when the idea of rebuilding the central market came up.
The other reason for the building of the market, he said, was the urgent need for the traders at the Race Course to be relocated to a permanent place, to allow for the construction of the Sun City project, initiated by His Royal Highness Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene.
The KMA boss, therefore, appealed to the traders to exhibit the spirit of love as a united people to sustain the facility, since economic activities do not thrive in an atmosphere of rancor and acrimony.
Mr. Thomas Kwabena Braimah, Chief Executive of T and K Enterprise Limited, said the market can boast of over 25,000 lockable stores, with about 6,000 sheds, modern toilet facilities, and some banking halls.
Other facilities available in the market, he said, include were completed terminals for vehicles, and two others which were yet to be constructed.
He said a police post, a fire service station and an information center are yet to be constructed at the market, and disclosed that a maximum 24-hour security within and around the market and good sanitation are assured.
Oheneba Adusei Poku, Akyempimhene of Kumasi who represented Otumfuo, commended the Mayor of Kumasi for his instrumentality and tremendous effort in developing the facility.
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