Mikindani residents in Jomvu constituency will from January no longer have to travel to Kongowea Market, 10.8km away to buy foodstuff and other goods.
This is because of the new Sh50 million Mikindani Market, which is 90 per cent complete.
The new market, funded by the African Development Bank through Kenya National Highways Authority, is a corporate social responsibility project of the Mombasa-Mariakani highway project.
It is being done by The Third Engineering Bureau of the China City Construction Group Company (CCCC).
The project, pushed for by Jomvu MP Badi Twalib, was mooted during the 12th Parliament but due to unavoidable circumstances could not be done at that time and had to be pushed to the 13th Parliament period.
Twalib said the market will accommodate at least 100 traders, who will mostly be from Jomvu constituency.
“This market will compliment the small county market in Mikindani and will open up Jomvu further for economic boom,” Twalib said.
He spoke after inspecting the progress of the market on Monday in an impromptu visit.
Apart from nullifying the need to travel to Kongowea Market, Twalib said the new market will help Mikindani people get job opportunities. It will also help create a wide business network for traders.
The project, which has employed locals almost exclusively, will be handed over to the Mombasa government once completed in January.
The market will have a feeding room for lactating mothers, a feature that was welcomed by Mikindani residents who praised the project.
“It shows the ideas we give to our leaders are taken seriously. This is one of the things we had been calling for when the project was first mooted and we were called to give opinions on it,” resident Ramazani Kombo said.
The market is strategically located along the Mombasa-Mariakani highway which has also seen a feeder road into Mikindani constructed.
“We thank the Kenha director general for considering our proposal and now it has been implemented. I would be talking to the contractor CCCC to also help re-carpet the other small roads inside Mikindani which were destroyed by the heavy rains as part of their CSR,” Twalib said.
The MP said the market will attract many traders if the request they have received is anything to go by and will need future expansion.
At the moment, the market has 20 stalls and three huge spaces inside where more than 30 traders can be accommodated.
“We anticipate that there will be need for more space and that is why we will engage the relevant authorities and offices including the National Assembly transport committee and Kenha to lobby for additional funds to expand the market,” the third-term MP said.
He said the market has been constructed in a way that two more storeys can be added.
“We do not have much space to expand it sideways but we have vertical space into which the expansion can be done,” Twalib said.
The MP also praised Kenha director general Kung’u Ndung’u who he said has played a significant role in opening up Jomvu for investment.
He said after Ndung’u’s intervention, a section of the Mombasa-Mariakani highway that had been severely damaged is now being repaired.
The section between Jomvu and Miritini, which was full of potholes, is now under repair, with the contractor already on site.
“I am happy to announce to the people of Jomvu that already the contract has been awarded for the Jomvu-Mariakani section to be done properly,” the MP said.
That is phase 2 of the A109 Mombasa-Mariakani highway project.
This, Twalib said, will address the constant traffic jams witnessed in Jomvu when the road was in bad condition.
“In the last five years, our trademark as Jomvu was the traffic jam and that is why people had been avoiding this road when traveling to Nairobi and using the SGR route instead.
“But now the traffic jams will be a thing of the past. That traffic problem was like a flu to us. But now we have sneezed that disease away and it is now affecting the Nyali people where there is constant jam from the Nyali bridge especially at peak hours,” Twalib said.
He urged those who had moved away from Jomvu due to the constant traffic problems to return.
“We also urge those who intended to invest in Jomvu but feared because of the transportation problem to return. From Mikindani to town is now only an eight-minute drive,” he said.