Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho has started a plan to phase out the now ubiquitous second hand car bazaars from County’s Central Business District.
The County, on Friday, announced that it had stopped offering business licenses to car showrooms in the coastal town on grounds that they were damaging the face of the city.
Mombasa, a majorly tourism attraction center, has in the recent past suffered major changes with most open spaces and buildings turning into car bazaars.
Nearly all ground floors on buildings along Moi Avenue contain a car showroom.
According to statistics from Car Importers Association of Kenya (CIAK), the country has 402 second hand vehicle showrooms but 200 of them are situated in Mombasa along Moi and Haille Selasie Avenues.
“About 80 per cent of an average 12,000 second cars imported into the country are sold in Mombasa. The face of Mombasa is changing,” stated CIAK chairman Peter Otieno.
The situation is so dire that old residential buildings and some high-end neighbourhoods are being converted into car bazaars.
The changes are part of a plan by the county’s Governor aimed at implementing Mombasa’s vision 2035 which defines each area and the kind of businesses allowed.
Security players have also blamed the rampancy in the showroom business operators were conduits of drug trafficking and money laundering.
In September 2018, Coast Regional Police Commander Noah Mwivanda claimed that 163 Pakistani were arrested in possession of fake work permits.
