By George Ernest Asare, Kumasi
The Race Course area which for sometime now had been the location for a number of small-scale businesses and traders would soon be transformed into a magnificent tourist attraction by a project which is expected to change the face of that part of the Kumasi metropolis.
The project dubbed ‘Sunshine Citi, Kumasi’, would have a 25,000 metre square capacity shopping mall, banking halls, insurance and travelling and tours offices, as well as restaurants, and would be undertaken by a South African-based Ghanaian business tycoon, Mr Robert Kwaku Appiah Asante.
Other facilities that would be developed at the Race Course Area at Bantama are a five-star international clinic with a helipad and ambulance station, a five-star international hotel with 1,200 state-of-the-art executive rooms, presidential and royal suites, amphi-theatre, and restaurants.
The five-star hotel would also have casinos, conference facilities, as well as an amusement park with water sports, roller and fitness centres.
Also included in the Race Course project are 240 executive semi-detached housing units separated into eight gated communities, with each of the communities having a magnificent swimming pool. According to Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Race Course Area was allocated to the KMA, for free sometime ago when the then Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo approached him to support the displaced business operatives by allocating a parcel of land for them to operate their businesses.
Allocation
Explaining why he allocated the land to the KMA about ten years ago, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II noted, “I was touched by the request, especially taking into consideration the number of my grandchildren who had been affected by the Kajetia Lorry Park reconstruction exercise, so I quickly told them to prepare the Race Course Area for the traders to operate their businesses on temporal bases, while they (KMA) looked for a more decent place for the displaced traders.
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II last Friday exposed the alleged fraudulent operations of a section of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) officials who allegedly extorted huge sums of money from displaced business operatives at the Kajetia terminal before allocating places for them to operate their business at the Race Course Area at Bantama.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu expressed these sentiments moments before he performed the sod cutting ceremony for the multi million project designed to transform the Race Course area at Bantama into a viable commercial centre within the Kumasi Metropolis
“I gave the land free of charge to the KMA for free distribution to the affected people. It was my contribution to support the youth who were eager to operate small scale businesses to generate the needed income to support their livelihood, but later information reaching me indicated that some KMA officials extorted various sums of money from the displaced traders before allocating places for them to operate.”
Concern
Otumfuo Osei Tutu also expressed concern about the use of the Race Course area for all manner of criminal activities, saying “the area has now become not only a den for robbers, but also a place where fraudulent operations take place in the name of business”.
He explained that when he allocated the Race Course Area to the KMA, he made it clear that it was only for temporal use and that anytime there was the need to reallocate it for the use of other ventures that would accelerate the pace of socio-economic development in the metropolis, he would not hesitate to do so.
Otumfuo said it was for this reason that he agreed to reallocate the area to the Chairman of the Kenbert Group, Mr Robert Kwaku Appiah Asante, when he approached him four years ago.
“I realised that Kenbert Group did not only have the expertise to transform the Race Course Area into a magnificent tourist attraction, but also have the resources that can accelerate the pace of development in the Kumasi Metropolis, as well as offer job opportunities to the youth who have requisite employable skills to work with them”.
He pointed out that as he did ten years ago by offering the Race Course area free of charge, “So am I doing today by offering this place free of charge to Kenbert Group for them to transform the Race Course into a viable tourist centre where millions of people across the globe would troop to relax and operate their businesses.”
Income
The Asantehene said notwithstanding the fact that the area was offered free of charge to Kenbert Group, it was agreed that he (the Asantehene), would have a share in the operations of Kenbert Group at the Race Course “to enable me generate the needed income to support my livelihood”.
Explaining further, he said through the shares acquired from the land offered, adequate income would be generated not only for himself and the present generation, but also to support the livelihood of future occupants of the Golden Stool and their offsprings.
He said already, he had discussed with the Chief Executive of the KMA, Mr Samuel Sarpong to provide a suitable place for traders who were operating businesses at the Race Course Area and urged the traders to cooperate with the developers by vacating the area to enhance the smooth take off of constructional works.
“This business will not only open doors for our children, but would also transform Kumasi to regain its former glory as the Garden City of the West African sub region”.
Earlier, the Chairman of Kenbert Group, Mr Robert Kwaku Appiah Asante had commended Otumfuo Osei Tutu II for supporting his group with a parcel of land to initiate the development projects at the area.
He assured the Asantehene that the Sunshine Citi would be a replica of a similar facility in Johannesburg, which has become a major tourist attraction.
Mr Appiah Asante said when completed, the Sunshine Citi project would become a major tourist attraction to complement that of the Zoo and the Centre for National Culture.
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