GH¢31,000 BUSAC Fund For Dunkwa Zongo Market Studies

From Sebastian R. Freiku, Kumasi,

THE BUSINESS Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund has released a total of               GH¢31,000 for studies towards improving facilities at the Zongo market at Kadadwen at Dunkwa-on-Offin in the Central region.

The fund was advanced to the 33-member Kadadwen Market Youth Association (KMYA) to explore the potentials of the market and the challenges confronting traders, as well as enhancing growth at the facility, which seems to have been abandoned over the past 25 years.

The fund is to be used in advocacy training, radio discussions and research into the development of the facility over a one year period.

Mr. Gabriel Bernarkuu, Chief Executive Officer of Hope for Society, a consultant and Service   provider for KMYA said the fund would help the association tackle challenges facing the members in their businesses.

Following the assistance, KMYA, as a key actor in the Upper Denkyira Municipality in general and the Dunkwa-on-Offin Township particularly, has conducted a research towards improving economic development.

It has been realized from the research that the development of the local market had been stalled over the years because the site belonged to the Ghana Railway Authority (GRA), making it difficult for the Municipal Assembly to develop it into a modern market.

Mr. Kingsley Rahman Dadzie, chairman of the KMYA, appealed to the Municipal Assembly to assist in improving the facilities at the market to attract more traders and help raise the revenue base of the Assembly for more developments.

He noted that the  Assembly was in a better  position to develop  the market at an alternative  site following  its access to the Functional  Organizations  Assessment  Tool (FOAT) fund under the District  Development facility (DDF)  which it benefited from in 2011 and 2012.

The Municipal Assembly, according to KMYA’s research, received GH¢560,000.00 in 2011 and GH¢237,000.00 in 2012, which monies went  into other projects excluding the Zongo market,  because there had not been any proposal for the market under those funds.

In the present state of affairs, the Assembly lost revenue due to poor tax education and revenue mobilization.

The association has, therefore, appealed to the Assembly to commit funds into financing the   construction of the Zongo market at an approved site to increase the revenue base, as well as   create jobs for the local people.

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