Posted on :Friday , 7th May 2021

Traders in Mwatate town, Taita Taveta are set to benefit from a Sh 50 million market under construction in partnership between the county government and the World Bank.

The project implemented through the Kenya Urban Support Programme is set to be completed before the end of this financial year 2021 to accommodate over 200 small-scale traders in the area.

Kenya Urban Support Programme is a 5 year World Bank programme targeting 45 counties across the country aimed at improving infrastructure.

Mwatate and Voi are 2 towns which are beneficiaries of the infrastructural development project, economic setup and the general modernisation of the urban areas.

The Mwatate market is expected to revamp the economy of the town which acquired a municipality status in the year 2019. The town is also the county headquarters where all government offices are set to be fully established.

The traders said they are optimistic that the new market will open up business opportunities for them.

Mwatate market chairperson Sophline Muya said the traders are ready to move to the new facility. Sophline Muya said the market committee is working with the county government department of Trade to allocate stalls and spaces to traders but called for total cooperation between the department officials and the traders.

"We hope the process of allocation of spaces and stalls in the new market shall be transparent to us genuine traders," Sophline Muya said.

Sophline Muya said some of the traders might fail to get allocations since there are only 200 stalls out of the 350 traders in the market.

Daniel Makoko, County executive for Trade said the devolved unit is determined to make the business community operate in a conducive atmosphere.

Daniel Makoko said "The traders will operate in a better place. We will collect revenue from them and this will enable us offer good services to the traders".

The Daniel Makoko said the arrangement to relocate the traders from the temporary market to the new facility were on.

"The traders have already applied for the spaces. The allocation process is ongoing," Daniel Makoko said.

The town has also benefited from improvement of roads and parking areas.