Kisumu City plans to begin construction of a Sh3.5 billion modern market at Kibuye as the county seeks to turn the facility into a regional trading hub serving traders across the Lake Victoria basin and neighbouring countries.
City Manager Abala Wanga said the project, funded by the national government through the State Department for Housing and Urban Development, had entered the tendering stage.
President William Ruto alongside Kisumu governor Prof Anyang Nyong’o will preside over groundbreaking ceremony of the multi-billion project once tendering is completed.
“The State has pumped in Sh3.5 billion. The tendering process is going on and, at any time, the President and the Governor might do a groundbreaking to build three mega-storeys,” Wanga said.
The proposed market will comprise three large storeys and will be modelled partly on modern markets in Cape Town, South Africa, Wanga said.
The State Department for Housing and Urban Development has advertised a tender for the construction and financing of the Kibuye Regional Market and associated infrastructure in Kisumu County.
Wanga rejected claims circulating on social media that the county government was using World Bank funds to finance the project, saying the money had been provided by the national government.
“The county government is not using any World Bank money to build any market. The funds being used are from the national government through the State Department,” he said.
Kibuye is a major trading centre in western Kenya, with traders and agricultural producers from several counties and neighbouring Uganda using the market, Wanga said.
Trucks begin arriving as early as 3am carrying commodities including onions and watermelons from Uganda, bananas from Kisii and maize from Trans Nzoia, while farmers from Kericho and Nandi supply fresh produce, he said.
The redevelopment is expected to expand the market’s capacity and strengthen its role as a regional distribution centre for agricultural produce.
The project is part of wider efforts to modernise public markets and improve trading infrastructure in Kisumu, a key commercial centre on the shores of Lake Victoria.
Leave a comment