Well
in my view, it would take massive investments of money, to turn Gikomba market
in Nairobi into an organized place. I think one problem that exists in Gikomba
is that the number of traders is far bigger than the available space. Yet given
the fact that Gikomba market is so lucrative, the traders would oppose any idea
to relocate them. And even if they were to buy into that idea, where can one
find free land to accommodate them within Nairobi city?
So I think that perhaps
one solution would be to turn Gikomba market into a multi-storied complex: with
some traders being allocated to operate on the ground floor, others being
allocated to operate on the first floor, others being allocated to operate on
the second floor and so on. Of course, even this would cause some complications
as you would have traders jostling for the more lucrative ground floor space
and shunning the space in the higher floors. But I think that this can be
sorted out by, for instance, allocating certain floors to traders dealing with
specific types of merchandise and designing the market complex in such a manner
that it has multiple entrances and exits to avoid a situation where some traders
are put at an advantage over the others by being allocated space near the
entrances. These sorts of projects would also help put a stop to the annual Gikomba market fires that have become a scourge.
Bottom line is, if we can afford to build superhighways with interchanges all over,
I think we can afford to build modern market complexes in places like Gikomba
and wakulima market and perhaps in Muthurwa market with time too.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.