The National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) funded Sewa Ground Market in the Central Business District (CBD) of Freetown will soon be opened officially as a panacea to the challenge of market space which thousands of businesspeople are being affected, especially street traders.

The disclosure was made on Tuesday 8th August, 2023, during a conducted tour of the facility by a team of NASSIT Management and media practitioners.

The NASSIT Project Manager of Sewa Ground Market, Abel Onomake, expressed happiness over being part of the epoch-making visit to showcase the work of the Government in developing trade in Sierra Leone.

The Project Manager disclosed that the market is expected to be officially opened between the end of September and mid-October, 2023.

Abel Onomake explained that NASSIT looked at all issues of the project with a view to satisfying traders who would be occupying the structure, hence the various accessories provided in the facility.

He noted that there were concerns about security issue and in respect of these and other concerns, consideration was m ade to include ways to address them in the new facility.

The Project Manager disclosed that the Sewa Ground Market consists of 7 Lots and that when they took over the project, the building had various stages of construction work to be done and were divided into several Lots so that they would be able to complete them in time.

He furthered that Lot 1 is single open market occupying the central part of the market, which is 70% completed and focuses mainly on Sani Abacha Street traders, adding that the facility has over 1000 market stalls with 76 warehouses available for importers and other businesses to keep their goods for sale to traders.

Having described the various facilities of the market structure, Abel Onomake explained that to ensure security, which was a major concern of traders, a Police Post and Freetown City Council (FCC) office have been established at the market, adding that other facilities will be made available, such as a National Fire Force detachment to address fire issues, a cleaning team and a day care for small children.

In her statement, the National Chairlady for Market Women, Ginnah Alie Koroma, expressed happiness over the construction of the Sewa Ground Market which she had been contributing to by catering for the workers.

The tour was climaxed by a question-and-answer session.