Kisumu basks in glory as investors troop in

Kenya: Investors are scrambling for Kisumu’s Mamboleo region to set up businesses ahead of opening of a Sh2.5 billion state-of-the-art shopping mall.

The 25,000 square-metre mall, a project of Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA) is set to be completed by August this year.

In the past years, the lakeside city has witnessed an upsurge in service industry investments which are coming up nearly on a daily basis in various parts of the city.

The latest entrant is the LBDA shopping mall which is expected to host the region’s biggest family and children’s play and recreational park and to be complemented by a car park for up to 500 vehicles. The facility will include a five-star hotel, a regional resource centre, more than 1,000 housing units and a complex comprising three office blocks to serve as the LBDA headquarters.

Even before the mall is completed, traders are already positioning themselves within and around the mall to take advantage of looming explosion of business opportunities in the area.

A spot check by The Standard established that traders are booking shops in Mamboleo while property owners are erecting apartments and stalls in readiness for the opening of the facility.

Some traders, who are currently operating businesses in the main bus station, are opening up branches in the region, ahead of time.

Uchumi Supermarket, for instance, has signed an agreement with LBDA to become the anchor tenant of the facility and is set to open its second outlet in the city. Chief executive officer Jonathan Ciano said the city’s growth cannot be ignored and the supermarket chain which survived receivership in 2010 is positioning itself to take advantage of region’s booming business.

‘’In the next few years, Mamboleo will be become the city’s connection point and we are positioning ourselves to tap on a large number of travellers who will be converging at this point,’’ he said. Lavish individual home apartments, hotels and modern malls, characterises the massive expansion which industry players say gives the area a bright future.

Major projects

Other developers like Home Africa, Ounga Commercial Agencies and Lake Estate Agencies have established themselves in the region and are putting up major projects which if concluded, could push further up property prices.

“Kisumu has seen its major roads being upgraded. We are also developing an economic corridor and every business person seems interested in acquiring space to put businesses,” said Governor Jack Ranguma.

LBDA Chairman Onyango Oloo said Kisumu has been experiencing minimal growth due to lack of business infrastructure and the mall is critical in providing the much-needed impetus to boost growth. ‘’It is no doubt the mall will attract businesses,” he added.