The county government of Kisumu has embarked on building stalls for traders who were recently evicted to pave way for the ongoing expansion of the Kisumu Port.
The county leadership has since acquired a 2-acre piece of land on the backstreet of Oginga Odinga street to house traders evicted from Lwang'ni beach and the Kisumu city center.
A number were removed from the Central Business District (CBD), in line with the city reorganization plan, ahead of the 2021 Africities forum, and another 80 from the Lwang'ni beach.
City Manager Doris Ombara said the county will erect temporary structures ahead of the planned erection of permanent ones on a 23-acre land acquired from the Kenya Railways.
“Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o has instructed us to find an alternative location and we have identified this as a temporary measure to settle the affected traders,” she said on Thursday.
She added that the construction will see 1,300 metal sheet walled structures erected and fully supplied with basic amenities, adding that double occupancy will not be allowed.
According to Ombara, the temporary market will operate on a 24-hour basis thanks to floodlights that will be erected.
She noted that the county has the details of evicted traders who will be accommodated in the stalls.
“We are going ahead to do the bio-metrics so that we don’t have double occupancy,” added Ombara.