MP to collaborate with Assembly to give Kotokuraba a facelift

Cape Coast, May 26, GNA - Mr Ebo Barton-Oduro, the Member of Parliament for Cape Coast, has said his office was sourcing funds to reconstruct the Kotokuraba Market in Cape Coast into a modern market complex.

He said the market has become congested and as soon as funds were secured, it would be demolished in phases for work to begin. Mr Barton-Oduro, who was outlining his plans for the constituency at a news briefing in Cape Coast on Saturday, said the architectural design for the proposed market complex was ready and urged the metropolitan assembly and the market women to cooperate when construction starts.

He said he had initiated a number of programmes to stem poverty in the area and mentioned the training of some young artisans by oil experts from the Western Region to enable them to work on an oil rig and secure jobs in the oil industry. The MP said he would meet the business community in Cape Coast to strategize to enable them benefit from US President Barak Obama's visit to Cape Coast in July.

Mr Barton-Oduro said some investors from the US had expressed interest to de-silt the Fosu Lagoon in Cape Coast and also build a recycling plan to generate employment in addition to dealing with waste. He said an industrial city would soon be built at Mempeasem near Abkaful and the artisans at Siwdu, a suburb of Cape Coast, would be relocated there to pave the way for embankments around the Fosu Lagoon to be developed into a tourist site. Mr Barton-Oduro urged the metropolitan assembly to ensure that what was left of the 200 acres of land acquired for that project was protected.

He said he had toured almost all the electoral areas in his constituency and had educated the people on government policies and plans, the budget, state of the economy among others. He has also interacted with heads of departments during which he realized that there was no coordination amongst the heads and that he would soon organize workshops for them to foster collaboration amongst them to enhance the speedy development of the area. The MP said the Youth in Agriculture Project would also be given a boost to encourage more youth to go into agriculture and the Cape Coast Technical Institute would give technical training to the youth. He mentioned other areas to be tackled by investors to include housing and road construction.