Kisumu City Manager vows not to allow cartels to block upgrading of Kibuye Market
Kisumu City Manager Dorice Ombara address the press in Kisumu where she has warned cartels who are trying to blocking the upgrading of Kibuye Open Air market-Photo By Dickson Odhiambo
By Dickson Odhiambo
June 9, 2020
Kisumu City Manager
vows not to allow cartels to block upgrading of Kibuye Market
The Management of Kisumu has vowed not to allow any
form of cartel from blocking the County Government of Kisumu from fully implementing
the refurbishment of Kibuye Open Air Market through the Kisumu Urban Project.
Kisumu City Manager Dorice Ombara says time for the cartels
who have been operating within the City and are busy blocking the development
in various parts of the city due to their selfish interest is long gone.
Addressing the press in Kisumu to react on the issue of
Kibuye Open Air Market after it has been completely demolished, Ombara said the
open air market is one of the three markets within Kisumu City that was earmarked
for upgrading through the Kisumu Urban Project with donor funding from French
Development Agency {AFD}.
Other two Markets which were also identified for improvement
include Otonglo Market in Kisumu West Constituency and Jubilee Market next to
the Kisumu Main bus terminus.
Ombara says the issue of the Market has been outstanding for
some time, adding that it had been identified under Kisumu Urban Project for
improvement, modernization and to take care of the issue that prevails.
“Funding for design and actual construction work had come
for the projects under the Kisumu Urban Project for the three markets,” Ombara
says.
She says already shs 49 million has been used to design
through Dama Consultants Company which came up with a design, Environmental and
Strategic Impact Assessment and a relocation action plan for the traders within
the market, adding that they agreed that the traders would move out bit by bit
to allow the construction to go on.
Ombara says after all the plans had been put in place, the work
did not commence on the 12-acre Kibuye Open Air market because the traders
moved to court and got injunction last week on Friday, adding that her office
has not received such court injunction.
Ombara says the Traders have refused that the City Management
do beacons that shows the boundary of the market, adding that they also don’t
want the market to have the boundary walls as well as establishing the extent
of the market.
“We have now lost the opportunity from the donor because
they have said they cannot go beyond since there is no mapping of the market
done and the extent of the expanse of the market done and sign off. This is how
we lost this opportunity of spending about shs 380 million under the French for
Kibuye Market development and this is a very painful scenario,” Ombara adds.
Ombara says there had still been an opportunity to improve
Kibuye Market through the World bank road project through the Kenya National
Highways Authority where a Corporate Social Responsibility after building
Mamboleo-Kisumu Boys Road claiming that the traders have rejected this as well.
Ombara says with the Corona pandemic, re-organization has
been done to re-locate the traders from Kibuye Market which has been done to
de-congest it.
The City Manager says after that some basics were done that
include fencing the market after identifying the beacons, adding that there is
already shs 197 million for the Market refurbishment which must be utilized.
She has maintained that where the demolition took place on
Sunday night is the offloading and loading points as well as parking.
She says the City Management will appeal against the court
injunction following the law, adding that Kibuye Open Air Market is a property
of County Government of Kisumu.
Ombara says he reads a lot of politics in the Kibuye Market
Saga, adding some opponents of the current Governor are the ones who are
sponsoring some cartels to block the improvement of the market.
“We will not allow any form of cartel to take control of
Kisumu City and block us from implementing projects,” Ombara further says.
ENDS:
.jpg)
Good,however ask Ombara to explain why chichwa is having a problem with allocation of stalls. Some individuals have since behaved like grabbing the stalls and allocating their cronies.
ReplyDeleteAre there cartels blocking fencing of Oile park?
Are there cartels stopping the completion of carwash sije road?