The government has renamed its “24-hour economy markets” programme as District Economy Markets
Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, explained the change at the Government Accountability Series on Monday, October 5, 2026.
“You notice I didn’t say 24-hour economy markets. The use of the 24-hour economy markets has tended to create the impression that the whole thing about the government’s flagship programme of 24-hour economy is about markets,” he said.
Mr Ayariga said the programme is expected to provide a model market in every district, with projects already at different stages of construction and implementation.
He also said the government had divided the programme into two phases to speed up construction and establish a more structured financing arrangement.
“The first phase effectively delivers the market stores, the sheds and the essential commercial spaces and then there's a second phase which delivers the social amenities including police and fire stations.”
Explaining the reason for the restructuring, he said: “We have re-scoped them and phased it into two phases to enable a more speedy delivery of the market and a more structured financing to achieve 100% completion by 2028,” he said.
The Minister said the second phase, which will cover the supporting social infrastructure, would subsequently be financed through future allocations from the District Assemblies Common Fund.
The government has set a 2028 deadline to complete the District Economy Markets across all 261 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.
