Congestion holds back town’s growth prospects

An aerial view of Kisii town on these photos taken 0n26/04/2018. The County Government has embarked on a massive de-congestion plan towards the gaining of municipality status. Cabro works and street lighting has greatly changed the face of the town. [Sammy Omingo, Standard]

Residents of Kisii town have been forced to contend with congestion and other challenges despite efforts by the county government to improve delivery of services.

An ambitious plan by Governor James Ongwae’s administration to modernise the town is being hindered by shortage of public land for expansion or building social amenities due to land grabbing.

For instance, it has taken the county five years to get a piece of land to put up a fire station, which is currently under construction.

The town, served by a dilapidated water and sewerage system, is choking under water pollution. The water pipes were laid in 1974 while the sewer lines were constructed in 2000.

Last week, there was massive demolition of illegal structures along the town’s main river: Nyakomisaro. More than 300 hundred pit latrines and toilets that had been discharging raw sewage into the river were demolished during the three-day exercise.

The town, with more than 200,000 people, is the second-most populous urban centre in the former Nyanza region after Kisumu. Walking on its streets, it’s hard to know whether it’s a market day or a normal day.

The overcrowding is compounded by the more than 14,000 boda boda operators and 7,000 matatus within the township.

The town’s official dumpsite is situated less than 400 metres away from the county’s largest referral hospital.

Most traders sell their wares on the roadside of the busy Kisii-Migori highway and end up causing major traffic snarl-ups that stretch to the Central Business District. They are an extension of the Daraja Mbili open-air market.

Beneath several glass-clad multi-storey buildings in the town are over 25 banks and other financial institutions whose customers are often forced to circle the streets for long periods as they search for non-existent parking space.

This has made double parking on the town’s major streets, and several other roads that are currently under construction, the order of the day.

Boda boda operators also add to the traffic mayhem by overtaking willy-nilly.