A visit by President William Ruto to commission the Mathare North Market and launch the Riruta Market has rekindled hope for traders to sell their wares in safe, well-lit spaces.
The modernised working spaces for 1,305 traders dealing in fashion and hair design, fresh produce, eatery operations, mitumba, and jua kali products.
Mathare North Market is 85 percent complete, while Riruta Market will be done within the contracted period.
State Department of Housing and Urban Development, Principal Secretary, Charles Hinga, said the two markets are aimed at creating diverse business operations for skilled fashion designers, hair stylists, fresh produce traders, mitumba sellers, and jua kali artisans and also give farmers avenues to sell their surplus produce.
“These modernised markets offer traders the opportunity to expand value chain inclusion of their cottage industries and grow the businesses of the jua kali sector. These markets will become on-the-job training hubs for next-generation workers,” he said.
According to the PS, Mathare North Market will have 305 slots for doing business, where 40 shops will occupy the perimeter section around the market plot, 102 stalls for fresh produce, and 161 stalls will be reserved for clothes and wares traders.
Apart from constructing vendor stalls for 1,000 traders, the Riruta Market facility will also have a dispensary for healthcare services, storage facilities for traders’ merchandise, administrative offices, food courts and stalls for refreshment services, and an ICT hub.
PS Hinga said construction of the two markets is in line with the government’s transformation agenda that creates decent workspaces where people go to shop, while market traders sell their wares in clean spaces.
The Nairobi County Government, which will oversee operations and maintain sanitation and hygiene standards within the two markets, will also get an opportunity to raise revenue from the traders.
