Some grain traders at the new Bolgatanga Central Market have expressed worry over the Assembly’s Directive which seeks to move them to the Techiman Market in the Old Market area.
Their grievances follow the Bolgatanga MCE Rex Asanga’s directive to relocate them to Old Market as a way of achieving “sanity and order in the central business area”.
When A1 News visited the market to interact with the traders, Madam Talata, not her real name, explained that, the said Techiman Market the Assembly they are asking them to relocate to cannot contain the huge number of traders and could reduce their sales and profit margins. “We are only widows making sales through the sale of grains to cater for our children’s education and family upkeep,” she bemoaned.
She further stressed that “where we are seated is not even part of the market, we are at the Daporetindongo Area so we do not understand why we should be affected by this directive and moreover we are not causing any traffic as the Assembly explains”
Another trader explained the move by the Assembly will only render them jobless because they all will not get stalls and convenient places to sit and transact business suggesting to the Assembly to rather clear up parts of the new market in a bid to open up the place to accommodate them all rather than ask them to relocate to the old Market.
According to Madam Nmah, not her real name, “we know he [the MCE] is seeking to develop the Municipality but he should relook at his directive and rather get us a new place other than the old Techiman market”
Having expressed their grievances over the Assembly’s Directive on their relocation, they pleaded with the Assembly to reconsider its directive.
It will be recalled that the MCE for Bolgatanga, Rex Asanga said steps had been taken to decongest the Bolgatanga Central Market. Speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East, the MCE said the inconveniences posed by the citing of the grain market at the entrance of the market cannot continue.
The MCE said the Assembly through its Decongestion Taskforce will not relent on its mandate to ensure that residents are able to move in and out of the market freely. He said the initial plan was to ensure that trucks that offload grains in the new market relocate their activities to the old market. He said the Assembly has designated some space in the old market for the activities. If implemented properly, Mr. Asanga hoped the move will reduce the human and vehicular traffic at the new market, particularly on market days.
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