Hundred of businesses that were demolished in Kisumu have been allocated new trading areas in the newly-built Uhuru Business Park Complex Market.
In a notice on Tuesday, May 18, the State Department for Housing and Urban Development listed 500 businesses that had been demolished to pave way for the construction of the Kisumu Port and the Railway line.
The businesses include hotels, salons, car washes, hardware, electronics, clothes Mpesa shops, boutique, grocery shops, computer services, tailors will be allocated stalls in the complex.
The Ksh600 million complex which was commissioned by President Uhuru Kenyatta and implemented by the national government has 10,000 small unit traders Centre complete with modern social amenities.
The county government also erected new modern market stalls and replacing the makeshift structures.
Kisumu Governor in January 2021, stated that the trading centre would eventually be the permanent home for all small and informal traders recently displaced from the Central Business District (CBD), and rail lines.
''The new units will take care of traders displaced by the recent demolitions to pave way for the new Kisumu port and other infrastructural developments on course,' Nyong'o disclosed.
The demolitions sparked protests in the town as traders watched helplessly as bulldozers brought down their structures.
Kisumu City Manager Abala Wanga said that the county was determined to retrieve grabbed land for the development of the city.
He explained that some of the makeshift structures were a breeding ground for crime and unsanitary conditions in the new modern lakeside city and had to be demolished.
"This is part of a wider plan towards the realization of the Kisumu Railway City. A development we all long to witness," he stated.
The city boss further assured that the affected traders would be given an alternative place by the county government to continue doing their business.
