Migori Town Business Community Pray for Well-Planned Town

Migori,

Friday, December 1, 2023

KNA by George Agimba

The business community in Migori town now want the town management to come up with a broad master plan for the town to help do away with intense traffic jams witnessed every day within the town centre.

Known for its political violence during the electioneering times, the fast growing town has been the laughing stock for many years for its poorly designed roads and streets besides lack of sewerage system.

  Mr William Oketch, a famous hardware shop owner in the town, said the town urgently requires an up to date physical and industrial plan that when implemented would successfully transform the town into a true urban status.

To attract prospective investors, the town municipal body must take a major transformational root of making the town free of traffic jams, light all the streets, install traffic lights, create more space for industries as a recipe for more employment opportunities and expansion of its boundaries.

Speaking on behalf of all the business people in the town, Mr Oketch said a good plan when implemented would boost social services by constructing new institutions and improving the already existing institutions like hospitals, schools and recreational facilities to the benefit of the local people.

He said that the major aim of initiating an appealing plan for the town was to attract both local and foreign investors in line with the vision 2030.

 Mr Oketch called on all stakeholders to fight for a good physical plan for the town, calling on the Jua Kali, the matatu sector, hawkers and farmers to be in the forefront to ensure that the town makes a remarkable and visible stride in growth.

Reacting to the business community call, Migori town Municipal chairman Robert Mandela agreed with their prayers saying plans were in the pipeline to give the town a proper facelift.

"We are doing what we can to improve on the social infrastructure that are still below the standards and we must be given time to best fulfill our mandate," he told KNA in an exclusive interview recently.

Already, the Kakrao - Migori town Junction by-pass is complete and will ease the heavy traffic jam within the town centre, Mandela explained, although vehicles still avoid the route.

Currently, the town that attracts a huge population of business people and tourists from as far as Nairobi and Mwanza in the neighbouring Country Tanzania, has nothing to boast of in terms of good streets, dependable streetlights and or well-planned housing areas.

Divided into two by river Migori, the Migori bridge linking the two parts of the town is always a nightmare for those crossing it as it has become a competitive battle point for motorists, boda boda riders, pedestrians, livestock and mkokoteni pullers looking for space to reach their destinations in time on either side of the bridge.

The sprouting of garages in every part of the town centre and the sale of food, Mitumba and motor vehicles spare parts on any space within the town centre has become an eyesore to the town dwellers and any visitors setting his or her foot in the town for the first time.   

 The largest urban centre within Migori County, Migori town serves as an important link between Kenya and Tanzania. And its cosmopolitan nature has made it to be among the fastest growing towns in Kenya and a viable commercial centre in the country.

According to the 2009 census, the population of the then municipal council of Migori stood at 29,825 but to date statisticians puts the population within the town to over 100,000 people.

 With that huge number of human beings concentrated in one region, there are a number of basic services that are critical for the survival of such humanity, one of which is availability of good systems to realise high degree of sanitation for the town dwellers.

An urban set up of that kind will also require good infrastructure. For instance, housing, good roads, high-class water system, lighting system and first-rate hospitality services from hotels and restaurants.

Fortunately, enough, Migori is racing to catch up with the existing big cities in Kenya in terms of buildings and especially those housing business entities, but with no sewerage system.

Courtesy; KNA