WORK ON LIVESTOCK MARKET IN PROGRESS (PAGE 29)

WORK on the first phase of an ultra-modern livestock market located at Guunayili, a suburb of Tamale, is progressing steadily and barring any hitches the project will be completed by the end of this year.
Currently, the project has reached roofing level and a fence is being constructed around the facility.
When completed, the facility will be equipped with such facilities as a loading area, rest room for traders and pens for animals.
The GH¢100,000 project will facilitate trading between Tamale, Burkina Faso and other Sahelian regions.
The project is being funded under a Canadian government programme known as the District Wide Assistance Project (DIWAP).
According to the Tamale Metropolitan Co-ordinating Director, Mr Mohammed Baba, when the project was completed, Guunayili would become a transit point for livestock trade 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 south,“
he explained.
The director said that a stakeholders’ meeting would be held to discuss both the internal and external works, including an access road to the market.
Mr Baba further indicated that a livestock market committee would meet with the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Alhaji Abdulai Haruna Friday, to put in place a market plan to run the facility smoothly.
The director said two potential livestock suppliers from Fada N’Gourma and Kaya had expressed interest to transact business with traders in the metropolis.
He said in April, some members of the Livestock Rearers Association from Kaya in Burkina Faso toured the project site and said they were impressed with the progress of work on the facility.
He said the project, when completed, 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 such as Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso will benefit immensely from the project; let us all support the assembly in this endeavour, because Tamale has a lot to gain,” he added.
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 agreements 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.