Paynesville – The Superintendent of Omega Central market Tewah Bundoo is calling on the government of Liberia to complete the long-delayed market-building project.
Report by Jackson F. Kanneh, [email protected]
Speaking to FrontPage Africa on the grounds of the unfinished market, Madam Bundoo outlined the many challenges facing the market. According to her, former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf dedicated the market building but it has since remained unoccupied. She added that there are some ground works that are to be done.
She named the fencing of the facility and reconditioning and expanding the road to the market facility as some of the pressing issues that are to be done.
Bundoo said the government, through the Ministry of Public Work, has been informed by her office on numerous occasions about the situation but are yet to respond to their request.
“We are facing lots of problems here at omega market which needs to be looked at first in order to make this market fully functioning. We are appealing to our government to help us do the filling of this ground and also help us to fence the entire facility,” said
Madam Bundoo.
At the same time, she is encouraging marketers to look at the omega market as an alternative for the overcrowded Red-Light market.
“When we came to the Red Light market many years ago, some of us were living far away but that did not stop us from coming to sell. So, I am calling on all those people that are selling on the street to please come to Omega Market in order to reduce the crowd at re-light and as well make omega an international recognize market,” Bundoo said.
Some marketers expressed their discontent on the part of their colleagues who had over the years refused to leave the crowded Red Light market for the Omega market.
According to them, the timely intervention of the government into the current situation will help decongest the Red Light area.
“Why will we have a marketplace as big as this one and yet people are still forcing themselves on the road to sell? It is time for our friends to join us to inform this government about the situation at omega. Because if this market is ready for the public use, it will help to accommodate most of the people you see on the street at Red-light,” said marketer Mary Johnson.
Added Jenneh Kollie, another marketer: “This omega market will also help to control or minimize garbage within the Paynesville area, because most of the goods that will be coming from the interior will make their way straight to the omega market which had more space to host more business people than other markets can offer.”
When contacted the Paynesville City Corporation (PCC) – the Municipal government spearheading the market project – said the PCC and the Omega market leadership are in talks with the relevant authority of government on the possible implementation of finishing work on the ground of the market.
The PCC stressed that the under-construction facility is the only alternative to the removal of street sellers from the densely populated market of Red Light market.
The omega market project was launched by the Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund, with other institutions including Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority proving support.
The project was launched in 2013 following the dismantling of the United States-owned Omega Tower that once stood on the site. The project aims to relocate sellers from Red Light and facilitate smooth passage for vehicles and pedestrians.
Red Light market is littered with challenges. As a result of the huge convergence of people there, controlling pedestrians, vendors, vehicle traffic and garbage appears extremely difficult.