Flood Destroys Wares In Over 1,000 Shops

Heavy rains have destroyed wares in over 1,000 shops in Kumasi Central Market with affected traders blaming the construction firm in charge of the market redevelopment project, Contracta, of their predicament.
The traders accused the contractors of the Kejetia project of blocking a sewage system at the construction site, leading to the floods.
They had their wares floating on water after the downpour on Wednesday and the flood victims have been cleaning and counting their losses.
However, the contractors have denied causing the floods.
According to the Consultant for the project, Emmanuel Danso, they have only taken measure to gather the debris in the gutters that are connected to the Subin stream at the market.
“We have placed net in major gutters connected to the Subin-stream, to separate the solid waste from the liquid so it can flow freely in the Subin-stream thereby avoiding flooding at the multimillion market; debris left behind the sieves are in volumes and that is causing flooding so people including the traders should desist from dumping solid waste in gutters, we will continue to do that even after completion of the second phase of the market”, he added.
About 20 percent part of the central market space yet to be demolished for the market redevelopment project got flooded, destroying wares worth millions of cedis.
They have called on National Disaster Management Organisation (NaDMO) come to their aid.
Chairman of the eleven-member steering committee, Kwabena Fosu, has also appealed to the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly to help ensure there is no recurrence.