BOOST FOR TAMALE SAHELIAN TRADE (PAGE 29)

TRADING between Tamale, Burkina Faso and other Sahelian regions will peak in the years ahead.
This follows the award of a GH¢100,000 contract for the establishment of the first phase of an ultra-modern livestock market at Guunayili, a suburb of Tamale.
The project, which is expected to be completed by the end of next year, comprises a loading area, rest room for traders and pens for animals.
It is being funded under a Canadian programme known as the District Wide Assistance Project (DIWAP).
When completed, Guunayili will become a transit point for livestock trading between Ghana and the Sahelian countries. In other words, traders from Southern Ghana can now stop at Guunayili and purchase their livestock instead of travelling all the way to Burkina Faso while those from Burkina Faso can also stop at the same place and buy what they want rather than travelling to the southern sector of Ghana.
The project was one of the many benefits of the Sister-city relationship initiated in October 2003 between the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TAMA) and the people of Fada N’Gourma in Burkina Faso.
The relationship was aimed at promoting socio-economic and cultural activities between the people of the two cities in particular, and Ghana and Burkina Faso in general.
In 2003, the Mayor of Fada N’gourma, Tandamba Iddrissa, led a four-member delegation to Tamale to finalise an agreement with the authorities of the TAMA on the relationship.
Another Sister-city relationship between Tamale and Louisville in the state of Kentucky in the United States of America (US), which was initiated as far back as 1979 is also yielding positive results.
The proposed establishment of a plant in the metropolis to process solid waste into gas for power generation, for instance, is one of the benefits of the Tamale-Louisville relationship.
The Tamale Metropolitan Co-ordinating Director, Mr Mohammed Baba, stated that contractors on the project could not move to the site now because of the rainy season which had made the area “marshy and heavy equipment cannot move in now”.
He said when completed, the project would increase employment opportunities for the youth, particularly women.
Mr Baba said it would also enhance the income levels of women in the metropolis, as most of them would be engaged in trading.
“Traders from countries like Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso would benefit immensely from the project; let us all support the assembly in this endeavour because Tamale has a lot to gain,” he intimated.