Saturday, May 16, 2020

What would it take to make Gikomba market in Nairobi an organized place?

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.

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