Change of plan: Ziwani market to host dry goods traders only

The Nakuru County Government has changed usage plan for the long-awaited Ziwani Wholesale Market, , diverting it away from its original mixed-market concept to become a purely dry goods market that will primarily serve mitumba wholesale traders and a few retail traders.

The five-storey facility located at the Old Fire Station in Bondeni Estate within Nakuru East Sub-county, which cost the county Sh 612 million and broke ground around 2021, was handed back to them just two weeks ago but is yet to be officially commissioned.

The county now says it is in active consultations with wholesalers ahead of an anticipated opening within the next six weeks, noting the risk of vandalism as a key motivator.

Stephen Kuria, the County Executive Committee (CEC) Member for Trade, says the market will operate on a purely wholesale basis across its basement, first, second, and third floors, with the basement specifically designed to house heavy goods and traders.

He notes that the top floor, the fourth, currently hosts an ICT center, a dispensary, a baby day care facility for young mothers, as well as stalls for retailers of small businesses to occupy, as well as 7 eateries.

“We are only going to entertain purely wholesale business,” Kuria says. “Anybody who is dealing with wholesale business, even if it's curtains, we welcome them all.”

The shift to a dry market concept is a move, which Kuria notes is to fill an existing gap in Nakuru's informal wholesale sector, particularly mitumba dealers who have long struggled with inadequate storage, and that the market presents a timely solution.

“Traders have been complaining of high rents and also require a lot of space for them to store their bales. So now this comes as a very good advantage for them,” he says, adding that the wet market component, which had been anticipated from the get-go, has been entirely dropped, adding that traders from Wakulima market or any other wet-market traders will not be moved there and will remain where they currently are.

He additionally says that the market will accommodate more than 500 wholesale traders, with an additional 300 retail stalls on the upper floor (fourth floor)-ready for occupancy, bringing the total trader capacity to over 800 and expected to exceed 1,000.

In a move to ease the financial burden on traders, the county will not charge rent for the market spaces, and instead, traders will pay a licensing fee calculated per square foot. Kuria clarifies that the county is not in competition with private landlords or existing businesses.

“We are just complementing,” he says, adding that landlords whose tenants may relocate to the new facility will find alternative uses for their spaces or even reduce their rents.

The market boasts an underground water harvesting tank with a 220,000-litre capacity, which the Trade CEC says will keep utility costs low, projected at under Sh 50,000 per month given the absence of a wet market.

Each of the market's four trading floors will have 24 toilets, totaling 96 across the building, and security will be round the clock, with additional security after its operation and the traders’ needs.

He notes that the county is also keen to attract heavy goods transporters to route through the market's vicinity, pointing to the proximity of the Nakuru Bus Park as a complementary advantage.

Daniel Kahuho, the current chairman at Wakulima Market, says he is not aware of the changes.

“While I was part of a team that was involved in planning for the decongestion of Wakulima Market in the previous administration and was in part aware that after its completion, the Ziwani market would host wholesale traders from our market, I am not aware of the current changes,” he says.

His predecessor, Gerald Kilonzo, too, says he is not aware of the changes and confirms that around 2023, the market leadership and the county government got into an agreement that traders from Wakulima Market would not be moved to Ziwani after considering several factors, including insecurity in the Bondeni area.