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| Ogunpa Market, Ibadan |
OYO State government, on Monday, began demolition of about 2,000 shops in the popular Ogunpa Market to pave way for modern market shops promised by the government.
Sources gathered that the team arrived the Ogunpa Oyo Market 1 and 2 around 10.00 a.m. and left for another nearby market in Dugbe around 4.00 p.m. The state government had informed that it had brokered truce with the traders earlier, before commencing the demolition exercise on Monday.
According to government source, the state government had planned to commence the redesign and re-development of the market through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement on Monday.
The project, according to the state government, was expected to accommodate more than 1000 shops, as well as modern social infrastructure.
It further informed that the development was reached after a meeting held between the stakeholders and the state government at the House of Chiefs, Parliament Building, Ibadan, last Friday.
Some of the traders had expressed fears that since the project would be executed by a private developer, they might not be able to afford the cost of the shops, which they said might be exorbitant.
They were also worried that the original traders in the market might be shut out upon completion, while the completed shops might be allocated to influential people who presently had no stake in the market.
But a former Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, Mr Segun Abolarinwa, who represented the Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi at the meeting, assured the stakeholders that the interest of the traders would be adequately taken care of.
According to him, the government decided to adopt the PPP model for the development of the market following the current economic realities that had made such partnership inevitable.
Tribune