The Anambra International Market project, Oba, which was long abandoned by successive administration in Anambra State will soon take off with state of the art facilities that will help it function round the clock, the Managing Director of De Finest Limited, Sir Uzoma Ndukwe has said.
Ndukwe whose company is taking care of the marketing of the 4,000 lock up shops in the market said that the market which will start operations in July will be the best and most organized market in the country when it starts operation.
According to him, the market on completion will boost of a 10 kilometer dual carriage way, an affordable but classy hotel for customers who travel from afar for transaction, and will also operate 24hours a day as well as constant electricity supply from both electricity company and power generating plant that will service the entire market.
Other facilities he said the market will have include; Banks, Police post, free internet facility and an e-sales portal for people who wish to connect with traders in the market without necessarily travelling down, just as it would have an helipad for air travelers who wish to come straight without having to stop at the airport and journey by road.
A recent visit by our correspondent revealed that work is already in advanced state, with about 2,000 shops ready for rent.
Ndukwe who spoke to our correspondent during the visit said that the project was first started in 2001 by the Dr Chinwoke Mbadinuju administration under a PPP arrangement, but has remained abandoned by successive administrations.
He said, “The project was first started 16 years ago with a loan of N1.5billion which an Israeli company, Dori Construction Company made away with. For now, AMCON has restructured the loan to come to N2.7billion, and we started in 2014.
“Because of our past experience, we now had to give out the contracts to various companies to take care of various aspects instead of putting our eggs in one basket. The project is a three phase project, and currently we are on the first phase which consists of 4,000 shops, but we have completed 2,000.”
He added that each of the shops sells for N6million, and that his company has been approached by several traders as a cooperative, seeking to have a section in the market.
He added that his company is not selling the shops to individuals, but any group wishing to have shops in the market should approach them as a group with the number of shops they need, just as textiles traders and others have been coming with their groups.
