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Reconstruction of the fire-ravaged Kantamanto Market in Accra is to begin in July this year. The reconstruction of the market has become necessary following the fire that gutted it last Sunday. Work on the new market is expected to be completed within six months. It will be modernised and provided with alleys to make for easy access to and from the market. In the interim, victims of the fire disaster are to be relocated to the Tuesday Market at Mamprobi and the Odawna Street Market at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle. A ferocious fire last Sunday swept through the Kantamanto Market, destroying the livelihoods of about 800 traders and their families. At a joint press briefing in Accra yesterday, the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuiye, said the reconstruction of the market would be undertaken jointly by the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinating Council (GRCC) and the AMA. He stressed that the new Kantamanto Market would be modernised to befit Accra as a Millennium City. He announced that the AMA had outlined plans to upgrade and redesign all the major markets in Accra, including the Mallam and the Madina markets which were also gutted by fire earlier this year. �With the support of the city authorities, we are going to upgrade and redesign all the markets in Accra to ensure that traders are able to do their business without encountering situations like the fire outbreak that occurred at the Kantamanto Market on Sunday,� Mr Vanderpuiye said. He said although the Kantamanto Market fire outbreak was an unfortunate incident, it had made it possible for the AMA to carry through its plans of redesigning the market. �The Kantamanto Market, after the re-construction, will become one of the cleanest, best-arranged and most spacious markets in the region,� Mr Vanderpuiye said. Asked what measures the AMA planned to put in place to solve the problem of illegal electricity connections commonly associated with the markets, he said a task force had been formed to go round all the major markets in Accra to deal with the situation. �We cannot do this alone and so we are appealing to the Electricity Company of Ghana to partner us to ensure that the problem of illegal connections is properly dealt with,� he said. He said as part of the redevelopment of Accra, the AMA would, from the beginning of June 2013, construct three flyovers at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to make for easy access to the place. He, therefore, appealed to investors to join hands with the city authorities to bring to fruition the plans of the AMA and the GRCC to redevelop the Greater Accra Region. The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Julius Debrah, called on Ghanaians not to play politics with the Kantamanto Market incident, since it would result in achieving nothing for the people. He said owners of shops and stalls who lost them to the fire were currently being registered to ensure that each of them was given a replacement after the market had been reconstructed. would be modernised to befit Accra as a Millennium City. He announced that the AMA had outlined plans to upgrade and redesign all the major markets in Accra, including the Mallam and the Madina markets which were also gutted by fire earlier this year. �With the support of the city authorities, we are going to upgrade and redesign all the markets in Accra to ensure that traders are able to do their business without encountering situations like the fire outbreak that occurred at the Kantamanto Market on Sunday,� Dr Vanderpuije said. He said although the Kantamanto Market fire outbreak was an unfortunate incident, it had made it possible for the AMA to carry through its plans of redesigning the market. �The Kantamanto Market, after the re-construction, will become one of the cleanest, best-arranged and most spacious markets in the region,� Mr Vanderpuiye said. Asked what measures the AMA planned to put in place to solve the problem of illegal electricity connections commonly associated with the markets, he said a task force had been formed to go round all the major markets in Accra to deal with the situation. �We cannot do this alone and so we are appealing to the Electricity Company of Ghana to partner us to ensure that the problem of illegal connections is properly dealt with,� he said. He said as part of the redevelopment of Accra, the AMA would, from the beginning of June 2013, construct three flyovers at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to make for easy access to the place. He, therefore, appealed to investors to join hands with the city authorities to bring to fruition the plans of the AMA and the GRCC to redevelop the Greater Accra Region. The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Julius Debrah, called on Ghanaians not to play politics with the Kantamanto Market incident, since it would result in achieving nothing for the people. He said owners of shops and stalls who lost them to the fire were currently being registered to ensure that each of them was given a replacement after the market had been reconstructed.