• KNCCI official says town has potential to become tourist resort of Coast given it is a few kilometres from Tsavo park.
• Municipality fast evolving from dusty roads to clean cabro, shanty buildings to modern complexes with access to clean water.
Until three years ago, Josephine Wakesho travelled over 250km from her Bura home to sell fruits in Mombasa’s Kongowea market.
However, the long and tedious journey, she says, has been reduced significantly to 20km owing to the growth of Mwatate – a town on the slopes of Taita Hills.
The previously neglected town now hosts the Taita Taveta county headquarters and is quickly rising.
Mwatate is fast evolving from dusty roads to clean cabro, shanty buildings to modern complexes with access to clean water.
The completion of the upgrading of Voi-Taveta-Holili-Arusha highway, a key link between Kenya and Tanzania, has also played a major role in the growth of the town.
Transit vehicles from the Port of Mombasa pass through the town on their way to Tanzania and Burundi.
“Business is growing so fast. We are now able to sell our fruits here instead of moving to Mombasa. This is a very big boost to farmers,” Wakesho said, revealing that they highly depend on customers on transit.
Five months ago, Mwatate gained a municipality status, carving a clear path to become the county’s new business hub.
Taita Taveta Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman Andrew Mwamburi acknowledged that business in the town has tremendously grown.
He said the improvement of business and residential complexes is an indicator of growth and huge economic potential.
“New modern complexes are coming up and this is indeed giving the town a new shape. It is definitely the new business hub in the region,” Mwamburi told the Star.
Being a few kilometres from the expansive Tsavo National Park, Mwamburi said, Mwatate has the potential of being among the tourist resorts in the region.
Despite the region being so productive, farmers could not benefit due to the high cost of transporting farm produce to long-distance markets, he said.
“There is a lot of untapped business potential here that runs from agribusiness to mining and value addition. The government should steadily support the business community because they are the key players in economic growth,” he said.
Mining has also played a big role in the growth of the town as middlemen meet there to purchase gemstones from artisanal miners.
A facelift of the town is near completion and many investors have expressed interest doing business in the town.
The Sh48 million facelift projects are funded by the World Bank through the Kenya Urban Support Programme (KUSP).
The projects entail rehabilitation of Mwatate administration offices access road, construction of an eight-door modern toilet and garbage receptacles.
Other facilities include the construction of parking, walkways and installation of street lights.
Infrastructure chief officer Mwakitele Mwalandi said the county is determined to improve networks across the town as a development enabler.
“Apart from sanitation, security in Mwatate town will improve significantly because we have erected streetlights in strategic areas. This will see Mwatate municipality transform into a 24-hour economy,” Mwalandi said.
KUSP aims to strengthen urban institutions and help create systems to deliver improved infrastructure and services in selected towns and municipalities.
Among the conditions for the grant is for the county governments to draw up a county urban institutional development strategy.
Taita Taveta qualified for the funds after meeting the conditions among them establishing municipal boards.
A spot-check by the Star revealed that a 100 by 50 plot within the town has appreciated from Sh450,000 to Sh750,000 in the last three years.
Nonetheless, the town still faces a major challenge of expansion for lack of enough land. The town is exceedingly squeezed between settlement areas and the highly contested Mwatate Sisal Estate, with limited space left for expansion.
Further, Mwatate is strategically placed as the best place for industrial investment.
The government has committed to set aside land for the establishment of a publicly owned Export Processing Zone in the county.
Industrialisation Commercial and Development Corporation has also revealed plans to partner with the county's Trade department to set up an industrial park.
Experts say Mwatate is best suited to host multi-million industries which are set to boost growth and promote value addition.
Edited by R.Wamochie