Better Nyeri: Hawkers go, terminus, recycling plant coming

Nyeri county plans to build a waste transfer station and cycling plant to manage the town's solid waste before the end of next year.

Nyeri Municipal Board chairman Wachira Ichaura said on Tuesday the project will be achieved through a Public Private Partnership.

Ichaura spoke during a citizens' forum at the Old Municipal Hall in Nyeri town.

Managing waste will create a good business environment, he said, as the town will be clean and whatever is recyclable is reused.

The county is working with development partners to provide waste bins for different kinds of solid waste. The public will be educated on proper waste disposal, he said.

The focus will be on decongesting the town from both human and traffic jams.

Street hawkers who have been blocking roads and businesses along Gakere Road and other streets will be relocated to the Asian Quarters where the county is constructing a transport terminus, Ichaura said.

The terminus will cost Sh600 million.

“Some 1,000 stalls are coming up at the terminus and we have agreed with the hawkers that they are going to move willingly,” he said.

Ichaura said the municipal board plans to make strong bylaws that will make trading in the CBD costly.

The terminus is expected to be completed in June next year. It is 30 per cent complete.

“The contractor says that by mid next year, the work will be completed and officially launched by  Governor Mutahi Kahiga,” Ichaura said.

He said the construction of the terminus has caused land prices to increase and the project will open up other areas such as Kangemi.

The county has hired a surveyor who drew up the decongestion plan and has already developed a blueprint.

“Our goal is to make the environment with the terminus conducive for doing business so hawkers currently trading in the town feel comfortable about being relocated to the terminus area," the board chairman said.

Traffic jams have been leading to loss of fuel and time for those stuck in traffic, he said.

Governor Kahiga told the board to prioritise the rehabilitation of the Asian Quarters dumpsite and construct a bus park to open up the town.

Bus parks will be moved to the rehabilitated dumpsite so the areas currently occupied by the parks inside the CBD can be put into other use.

The county government is constructing stalls for traders at the terminus.

The project is being constructed by both the county government and the Kenya Urban Support Programme) funded by the World Bank.

(Edited by V. Graham)