The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has begun a nationwide assessment of market layouts as part of renewed efforts to reduce the growing incidence of fire outbreaks in commercial centres.
The exercise, being carried out in collaboration with the Ghana National Fire Service, is expected to address long-standing safety concerns, including poor access routes, inadequate fire prevention measures, and the absence of effective fire control systems in markets.
Director of NADMO’s Inspectorate Unit, Richard Amo Yartey, disclosed this when the organisation presented relief items to traders affected by the Kasoa New Market fire disaster.
“There’s a serious collaboration ongoing, being coordinated by NADMO, and sensitization in all the markets across the country has been heightened. This is one of the ways to ensure the prevention. So, we are actively working with all authorities to ensure that fire prevention is heightened in this country. The reconstruction will seek to look at all these things and then cover all the gaps that were identified,” he said.
In addition to the national review, local authorities in the Awutu Senya East Municipality have announced plans to redesign the Kasoa New Market and other commercial hubs to withstand future disasters.
The Member of Parliament for the area, Phillis Naa Koryoo Okunor, said technical assessments are already underway to guide the reconstruction process and improve emergency preparedness within the market.
“Since yesterday, we’ve had consultants on the ground here to survey the place, to measure up the place, and to do some paperworks. These paperworks would include a reconstruction of the market, this area that got burnt, which would include a fire station and fire hydrants. The fire hydrants would not just be here; they would be within certain specific places of the market,” she said.
Authorities say the redesigned market will prioritise safety infrastructure to ensure faster response times and minimise losses in the event of future fire incidents.
