The Kotokuraba Market was inaugurated yesterday while the two projects in Elmina were inaugurated last Monday night.

Financed with a $31.75 million concessionary loan from the China Exim Bank, the rehabilitation of the market was a campaign promise of the late President John Evans Atta Mills, in 2008.

In 2009, President Mills started working on the funding for the project. The contract was awarded to the China Railway Group in November 2012 while actual construction started in October 2014.

Facilities

The market has 248 lockable shops, 496 open stalls, 26 mini- supermarkets,  space for two banks and one restaurant.

Others are 14 offices,  a day nursery,  a clinic, a fire station, a post office  and a car park to accommodate 188 vehicles.

The rest are a butcher's shop, cold store, warehouse, overhead and underground  water tanks to hold one million gallons of water, closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, a central security control room to monitor what goes on in the market,  as well as a solar-powered electricity system.

President Mahama  paid tribute to his "mentor, colleague and friend" Prof. Mills who conceptualised the project and called for a minute's silence in his memory.

He said the project would open job avenues to more than 5,000 people.

He directed the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly to ensure that first priority for the allocation of stores was given to original traders in the old market.

President Mahama said the government was building more markets to prevent market fire outbreaks and enhance the activities of traders.

The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana,  Ms  Sun Baohong, stated that the market was yet another testament to the growing China-Ghana relations.

She expressed the hope that the market would help enhance the living standards of the local people.

The Paramount Chief of Oguaa Traditional Area, Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, commended the President for the numerous development projects his government had undertaken in Cape Coast.

Elmina projects

The  fish processing plant inaugurated in Elmina would also serve as a fish market.

President Mahama noted, "It will be the centre of fish processing and marketing in Ghana."

Inaugurating the bridge over the Benya Lagoon, President Mahama gave an assurance that  an excavator  would be deployed to clear the Benya Lagoon so that vessels could use it without any problems.