Takoradi Market Circle Work to Resume Within a Month
Work on Takoradi Market Circle Project Set to Resume Within a Month – Contractor
There’s finally some movement on the long-stalled Takoradi Market Circle Redevelopment Project. According to contractor Contracta Costruzioni Italia S.R.L., work is expected to resume within the next month, barring any unforeseen setbacks.
The update came during a site visit by Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs Mahama Ayariga on Tuesday, September 22, 2026. Despite construction having started six years ago, the project remains just 62 percent complete a stark reminder of how long this has dragged on.
Government has so far put 41.7 million euros into the project, covering part of the original 48-million-euro contract sum along with accumulated suspension costs.
Contracta is now proposing an extension to Phase One, requesting an additional six months to add 1,200 trading spaces which would bring the market’s total capacity up to 4,000. Beyond that, the company is seeking approval for a second contract variation: a roughly 1.5-kilometre drainage system connecting the market to the main receptacle at Mankessim White House, something that wasn’t part of the original project scope.
Reginald Longdon, Technical Director of Contracta Costruzioni Italia S.R.L., was candid about the risk of leaving this drainage issue unaddressed. If this thing [drainage] is not resolved, it will not totally deal with the situation. But we’ve tried to mitigate it as much as possible with the design, he said.
The project has faced real financial turbulence, particularly after funding cuts from Italy’s export credit agency, SACE, disrupted the original arrangement. Government is now exploring alternative financing mechanisms to get the project across the finish line, with Ayariga suggesting a new model could see everything wrapped up within a year.
I have been tasked by the Finance Minister to come up with a financing framework that enables us to complete this market. So, we’ve come up with an approach similar to what has been used at Kejetia, he said.
We’ve realised that if we actually rent out the 4,000 spaces, we should be able to use that revenue to complete the project. The project is far advanced, and the amount needed to finish it isn’t substantial. So we are in discussions with STDA, the Ministry, and the contractor to conclude arrangements for collecting payments from prospective traders, funds that would go toward completing the market and handing it over, Ayariga explained.
On the contractor’s request to extend Phase One and add the extra trading spaces, Ayariga signalled that government sees the proposal as reasonable. We are actually considering adding the 1,200 spaces and extending the completion period by six months, he said.
The financial toll of this drawn-out timeline is already significant. Government’s delay in settling the 48-million-euro contract has triggered 18.9 million euros in suspension costs, of which 7.13 million euros has been paid so far. If the proposed extension goes ahead, that figure is expected to climb even further.
Through all of this, displaced traders have remained focused on one thing above everything else — simply seeing the project finished so they can finally return to trading properly.
