Several months after the Ministry of Transport clashed with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) over the brouhaha which accompanied the reconstruction of the Kantamanto market, talks on the issue seem to have died down.
But not after the Transport Minister, Dzifa Ativor, on Wednesday sought to clarify her outfit’s pursuit for the construction of a rail line at the flattened location.
Speaking in an interview with Radio Gold, Hon. Dzifa Ativor appeared surprised that traders at the Kantamanto Market seemed oblivious of the fact that they will have to vacate their center of trade for the project to be undertaken.
AMA and the Ministry of Transport in May this year bickered among themselves over what the Kantamanto area should be turned into following the wildfire that consumed the marketplace on Sunday, May 5, destroying several items worth millions of cedis.
Mayor of Accra, Alfred Oko Vanderpuiye expressed his outfit’s intention to transform the area into a modern market, but the Transport Ministry laid claims to the land and disclosed her outfit’s willingness to construct a railway terminal on the same parcel of land.
The feud between the two entities smothered as the market traders insisted they owned the place because they had agreement with the authorities to operate their business there.
This notwithstanding, the Transport Minister, today, called the bluff of the traders, averring that they would be shown the exit as soon as the plans were advanced to construct a rail line at the locality.
According to her, the traders were made aware of the exit clause “that anytime there was a need for the development of the rail line, they will have to vacate.”
“They are aware that they will have to move one day. They are very much aware.” she posited.