Regional Minister empathises with victims of Takoradi temporary Market fire disaster

The Western Regional Minister, Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, has visited the market women at the Takoradi temporary market whose shops were destroyed by fire early Monday morning.

The Minister, who went to the scene at the time it happened to have first-hand information consoled the affected women and said they were going to put measures in place to begin the construction of the affected area within the week.

More than 100 shops in the early hours of Monday got gutted by fire at the Takoradi temporal market, a place provided by the city authorities to pave way for the reconstruction of the Takoradi Market cycle.

Among the affected shops included wig shops, cloth shops, tailoring shops, hairdressing salons, plastic shops, and foodstuff shops.

The fire, which started around 2:18am on Monday, April 4, spread through the other shops especially, at the part close to the Ahenfie Hotel destroying properties worth millions of Ghana cedis.

Persons whose shops were affected and located close to the section of the market which the fire gutted, rushed to the scene to salvage some of their wares but to no avail.

Mr James Obeng Junior, Sekondi-Takoradi Metro Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) told the GNA that the affected portion of the market would be assessed to find out the extent of damage caused.

He said the affected area would be closed to enable them to have thorough investigations into the cause and assessment of the damage.

He announced that after the assessment, a recommendation would be made to the Regional Minister for consideration so that affected traders could be compensated for the loss.

Mr Obeng Jnr, however, indicated that the other part of the market which was not affected would be opened for business.