You are here: HomeNews2020 12 20Article 1137902

General News of Sunday, 20 December 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Kaneshie market fire: Affected traders to be allocated temporary shops – MD

A portion of the Kaneshie market caught fire in the dawn of Sunday, December 20, 2020 A portion of the Kaneshie market caught fire in the dawn of Sunday, December 20, 2020

Managing Director of the Accra Markets Limited, Edmund Kofi Dufour Addae has said traders affected by the recent fire outbreak at the Kaneshie market will be compensated.

This comes a few days after the Kantamanto market in the Central Business District of Accra was gutted by fire under odd circumstances.

According to Edmund Addae, new shops will be allocated to traders whose items were engulfed by the fire outbreak that occurred at dawn on Sunday, December 20, 2020.

In an interaction with GhanaWeb following the unfortunate incident, Edmund Addae said the move was necessary to assist the traders as renovations will soon commence.

“For those affected by the fire, we will make shops available for them…they will move into those shops without paying any rent for the period that we will be renovating the damaged portions of the market area,” he disclosed.

Explaining how the fire was quenched, the managing director said staff of the market who are also given training as fire wardens used extinguishers to quell the outbreak.

“Our staff here used about 30 fire extinguishers to quench the fire when it broke out. Every year we give them at least two to three training sessions on how to combat possible fire outbreaks in the market. The Fire Service were also called in to support with their tenders and other equipment,” he asserted.

As to the major cause of the fire outbreak, Edmund Addae said it was too early to tell as the Fire Service are yet to soon come out with a report on the circumstances.

He however assured that the situation was under control and that the Kaneshie market was a safe place to conduct business.

Meanwhile, some traders and market people have raised suspicion that it could be a case of arson and have made calls for thorough investigations into the disaster.

The Kaneshie market fire is one of many that have occurred in the most recent times. Two weeks ago, the Odwana market in Accra caught fire with a similar incident occurring at the Koforidua market which have all resulted in the loss of property.