Following Ghana’s oil find in the Western Region, the twin-city of Sekondi/Takoradi has attracted many investors without a corresponding action plan to enable the city to accommodate these multi-billion dollar oil business entities.
The number of corporate bodies locating to the twin-city, especially those in the financial and oil sector in readiness for the oil boom, has significantly increased.
To cash in on the demand for accommodation by these companies, many landlords have converted their buildings into business facilities, though they were not originally constructed to serve that purpose.
The locations of some of these offices are very obscure and pose a hindrance to easy access in the event of a theft or fire outbreak.
The concentration of the oil-related businesses and offices in Takoradi have created heavy vehicular presence.
Many shops and stores in and around the Takoradi Central Market have been converted into offices or banking halls without taking into consideration the dangers associated with such moves.
There are countless number of businesses with very limited parking space, where hawkers have also taken half of the areas designated for parking.
Hawking on gutters and mini kiosks on the pavements in Takoradi have also resumed, destroying the beauty of the city.
Some businesses such as banks that require the services of the security services, have erected huge kiosks as sentries on the pedestrian walkway for their security personnel.
Interestingly, all the buildings in the metropolis apart from the Bank of Ghana, Ghana Commercial Bank, SSNIT, NIB, Barclays and Standard Chartered Bank, the police stations and the Metropolitan Assembly offices in Sekondi, the rest were designed without car parks.
During an assembly meeting, some few months ago, the Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Kobina Pra-Annan, promised to build a big park with an overhead walk way in the metropolis leading to the central market, but the project is yet to be started.
The conversion of building in the metropolis into offices also do not follow any laid down designs that would incorporate certain social needs as well as the safety of the customers and others into consideration.
Somehow the demand for business operating areas seems to be limited to Takoradi, even though Sekondi looks more promising . Many owners of abandoned old buildings in Sekondi have expressed their willingness to give away their premises to be used for business purposes, hoping they would be given good deal.
Many of them indicated that they had been approached by corporate bodies and were waiting for final negotiations.
Aside from Sekondi, there are also large tracts of land towards Essipon with good road networks and a serene environment which are attracting attention.
Some residents of Sekondi who spoke to the Daily Graphic said for years, they had fought for recognition and that with the oil find, they thought the city authorities would work hard to project the city but this had not been the case.
They said the Sekondi Sports Stadium at Essipon even had empty offices and conference halls that were yet to attract businesses away from the congestion in Takoradi.
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