Abia State Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Chief John Okiyi Kalu on Friday said that thebGovernor Okezie  Ikpeazu led-State Government  has set a minimum standard for the remodeling of the entire Ariaria International Market.


Okiyi, while on  assessment tour of the reconstruction of three blocks in the A line section of the Ariaria International Market said Gov Ikpeazu through the remodeling of the  Market has shown that the overall wellbeing of Abians were his major concern.




“You can see for yourself how far this administration has gone, we have set standard for the remodeling of the entire Ariaria International Market with what we are doing here in A-line


“With this development, the incoming administration cannot go below the standard we have set here, they can choose to go higher but this is the minimum standard we have set for the total remodeling of the entire market”


He further proffered that the State Government has commenced issuing of allocation papers to original shop owners in A-line for those who have complied with the developer.


Okiyi said the governor deserves commendation for breaking a developmental jinx in the market which he described as a “child of necessity”


“If other administration from the old Imo State has done half of what Governor Ikpeazu did in this market, then Ariaria would have been of  world standard  before now”, he noted


In his remarks,  the developer Mr Henry Okoroafor said each of the three blocks has 150 shops each which brings it to a total of 450 shops that will be ready for hand over in the next few days.


“In our design, A line has a total of 14 blocks, each block have 150 shops which brings it to a total of 450 shops that will be handed over in few days


“The dimension of each shop is 12ft by 8ft which means that a shop owner can still partition his own to the numbers of his choice


“This should be better termed a Mall not even Market because of what we are injecting to beautify it”


“In our design, there are banks, hotels, parks among others which were all added to make this market the best in Nigeria when completed”


He said the lifts were added to make it easier for traders to quicky access every part of the blocks especially those who may not want to use the manual staircase.


When asked about the security plans in place for he market, the Trade and Investment Commissioner  said the Market already has a community policing in place as well as other collaborative security efforts by sister agencies.


On the electronic doors installed in the market, the Commissioner said it was in addition to the manual doors which will help the traders in terms of opening and closing their shops daily.


“The electronic doors in place is an addition to the manual doors, so if your electronic door developed fault, you can use the manual doors” he said.


The drainage system and flooding in the market were also being handled by the developer who assured that his company would do a thorough job