Narok traders have a reason to smile after the Ministry of Lands, Public works, Housing and Urban Development Cabinet Secretary (CS) Zacharia Njeru commissioned a Sh. 100 million bus station in the town.
The station with a capacity of 120 parking slots and 180 stalls was built through the Kenya Urban Support Program (KUSP) and funded by the World Bank in collaboration with the County Government of Narok.
“We are happy that the money put into this project was used properly. Other counties with intentions of coming up with such projects will be touring Narok county for benchmarking,” The CS noted.
The CS was accompanied by his Principal Secretary for Housing and Urban Development Charles Hinga, Narok Governor Patrick Ntutu, Narok County Commissioner Isaac Masinde and a host of Members of County Assembly led by their speaker Davis Dikirr.
“The traders and matatu operators who will be operating here should maintain the cleanliness of this place by growing trees in designated places and avoid throwing litter everywhere,” he said.
The CS promised to bring more goodies to the county, among them establishing an affordable house project that will accommodate about 12, 000 houses in a 149 acres piece of land that is donated by the county government.
The housing project, he said, will entail establishing a modern school, hospital and a commercial center that will benefit the residents.
He revealed that his ministry has a plan to establish modern markets in all the constituencies in the country to empower traders throughout the country in the bottom-up economic model.
Governor Ntutu said the project was built in two and half years where the World bank gave 70 per cent of the money and 30 per cent was contributed by the county government.
He said the bus station will reduce congestion in the busy town as no Matatu will be allowed to drop or pick a passenger inside the town in two weeks’ time.
“After the expiry of two weeks, 40 security personnel will be deployed in town to ensure no vehicle drops or picks a passenger along the road,” he said, reiterating that the project is the first of its kind in the county.
He revealed that the national and county governments are working to expand the storm drainages in the town so as to contain water during heavy rainy seasons.
PS Hinga said the current Kenya Kwanza Administration respects every hustle regardless of its size saying their plan is to dignify all the hustles.
“We respect every hustle, what we are doing is to ensure the business people operate in a more dignified manner,” he said.
The Matatu operators and traders thanked the government for giving them a decent place to operate, saying it will boost their businesses.
Isaac Mingati, the chairman Narok Star Sacco said the new stage is a big relief to the Matatu sector as they have been operating beside the dusty road, with no specific operating point.
His sentiments were echoed by Violet Naakisho, who represented the traders. She asked the county government to extend similar projects to other towns in the county.
By Ann Salaton
