TAKORADI NOW EXPENSIVE CITY...Due to oil discovery (PAGE 18, NOV 30, 2010)

THE discovery of oil and gas in commercial quantities at the West Cape Three Points in the Western Region in 2007 has triggered the high cost of living in Takoradi and its immediate environs in recent times.
Since the oil find three years ago, the cost of living in Takoradi and surrounding communities has been on the ascendancy.
The discovery of oil has brought in its wake an upward review of prices of all items, goods and services being provided in the city.
The most affected items include food, office and residential accommodation as well as land for real estate development.
As a result of the oil find and in anticipation of making good business when commercial production of oil many companies, including financial and banking institutions, have moved in to open branches of their offices in Takoradi to take advantage of the “black gold”.
Also many oil and gas related companies have found their way into Takoradi. This has obviously increased the population in Takoradi and its environs, thereby putting pressure on the inadequate housing and office accommodation in the city.
Landlords have started charging exorbitant prices on their houses in anticipation of ejecting tenants to enable the landlords to rent such houses to the oil companies as well as financial and banking institutions.
High prices of goods and services, as well as residential and office accommodation are now having the characteristics of gold mining communities and towns such as Tarkwa, Obuasi, Bibiani, Bogoso, Prestea.
These characteristics are gradually creeping into Takoradi and its surrounding communities as a result of the discovery of the “black gold” in the Western Region.
Land acquisition in Takoradi and nearby communities, districts and municipalities in the areas of the Jubilee Oil Fields at Cape Three Points have also become a lucrative venture for land owners.
Some open spaces in Takoradi have been offered for the construction of office accommodation for oil or oil related companies and shopping malls.
The emerging petroleum industry is also affecting the prices of hotel accommodation in Takoradi, as some of the leading hotels in the “oil city” have reviewed their prices upwards.
The prices range between GHc 120.00 and GHc 310.00 and are likely to go up in the future when there would be an influx of people in the city to do business in the oil and gas industry.
To sum it up, the cost of living in Takoradi and its environs is gradually becoming unbearable as prices of goods and services as well as office and residential accommodation continue to rise.
So residents of Takoradi should be prepared and condition themselves to face the hard days ahead when the country’s oil and gas are in full production.