South B traders and residents at large have something to smile about now; a modern market that they have been waiting for 30 years will now come up before the end of 2025.
This was after they successfully challenged a private developer who was eyeing the market land.
For the better part of last year, area residents had been holding demonstrations protesting efforts by a private developer who had fenced off the piece of land where the market will now be constructed.
The case came to a close after area MCA Waithera Chege filed a petition through the Assembly Lands Committee that established that the land belongs to the public.
Already officers from the national and the county government have arrived in the area to carry out an enumeration process for the traders in South B.
“We have been fighting issues of land grabbing in South B. We were able to bring back the land that had been grabbed by an MP, we have now agreed to construct a modern market and the same site,” said Waithera.
She added, “We are carrying out the enumeration in collaboration with the County government so as to ensure that the bonafide tenants and the landlords are the ones who are going to get these shops once they are complete,”
Waithera said the market will accommodate about 2,700 traders and the national government has already set aside Sh350 million for the construction and is expected to be up in about seven months’ time.
“I am very happy because we are not going to get another budgeting process and the money is in a separate account,” she explained.
According to the design, the market will go up to the third floor and it will have a lactating area where traders with babies will be using to nurse their infants.
“We have been selling on the roadsides for more than 30 years now and the construction of the market will be a game changer and will uplift the economic status of South B,” James Maina, chairman of the traders said.
The construction of the market is expected to employ about 300 youths from the area to handle various jobs during the construction.
