Abia Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, has approved the commencement of phased redevelopment of Ariaria International Market, Aba.
A statement by Commissioner for Information, Chief John Kalu, said the exercise would commence from Sunday, September 5, advising traders doing business along A-Line, C-Line and Medical Line of the market to relocate from their shops on or before close of business on Saturday, September 4 to enable the commencement of work the following day.
“Those affected are to temporarily relocate to Ekumi Shopping plaza or other available shops within the market. The developers have committed to completing the required work in the phase which includes establishment of proper drainage channels within the affected lines, construction of new shops and parks, before the first week of December 2021. Abia state government will through subsequent press releases publish the names of existing shop allottees who are guaranteed of their return to the reconstructed shops after completion of the first phase. It is important to state that no existing shop allottee will lose his/her shop after the work.
“Governor Ikpeazu is expected to personally hand back new allocation papers to all the existing allottees on Friday, December 5. Trading activities are expected to continue in other lines that are not affected by the first phase of the redevelopment project while the appointed developers, Messrs Blessed Henkel International Company, are expected to work with the market committee and security agents to ensure full security within the market during the period of redevelopment. Government wishes to assure traders that it will work to ensure minimal disruptions to trading activities while executing this project which has now been made more urgent and crucial because of the recent flooding forecast from the Nigeria Meteorological Agency. We will also not in any way tolerate any attempt by any individual or group to disrupt the planned work as we have consulted widely enough and given enough grace period, long before now, for alternative solutions which never yielded any meaningful result. We solicit the understanding and support of all Abians as we restate our commitment to delivering a modern market to our people.”
He recalled that the administration had made several efforts to reconstruct the 47-year old market in order to tackle its age-long structural issues with many of the shops, provide modern infrastructure to deal with the perennial flooding challenges particularly with A-Line, while delivering other amenities like befitting car parks, conveniences, beautification of the surroundings, improved fire fighting capacity and other facilities to the traders.