Kisumu city has changed for better by any standards. Though I am not a resident, I am a frequent passerby in the city and I admire the focus and intention by the leadership of the county to improve the area.
The city will be hosting the Africities Summit; a major Pan-Africa event later in the year, which is very encouraging. We should continue show casing the opportunities in the Lake Victoria basin.
I write this open letter to Your Excellency, because while you are physically busy and might not have time to meet me especially given that I am not a resident of the county, given your record for reading including media content, you will be able to interact with my observation.
Please as a matter of urgency, engage the Ministry of Infrastructure and other development partners to erect/build a second bridge on River Nyando particularly near Ahero town to facilitate entry into or exit from Kisumu towards the Kisii or Kericho direction.
I know it might be the mandate of your county government to build bridges or expand such roads, but given its importance, it’s a discussion you can have with the relevant national government entities to prioritize this.
Over the last two months, vehicles and people driving into Kisumu city from those two directions have been forced to stay on the road for very many hours following traffic snarl up along that road.
Should that Ahero bridge get blocked, its impossible to access or leave Kisumu town, which is very dangerous. Two bridges on the river will suffice and create room for more expanded access to the town through Ahero.
I know its an expensive undertaking but with engagement with the relevant public agencies, you will have a very big feather in your legacy. This has happened on river Nzoia in Budalani sub-county, where in addition to Ruambwa Bridge, there is an additional bridge at Sigiri, which has greatly improved movement to within Budalangi.
An expansion of Nyali, Mtwapa and Kilifi bridges helped movement within those counties and a discussion with the infrastructure to expand the bridge on build additional bridges on river Nyando to facilitate entry Kisumu town and movement along the Trans-Africa highway- to the great lakes region and the planned opening Kisumu Port, its anticipated that there will be increased traffic movement into and out of Kisumu town.
There is a possibility of transport using the port to move their luggage to especially Tanzania using the lake, thus early thinking about expanding entry routes to the town might pay off.
Traffic jams costa lot to business people and given the few incidence of snarl ups before the bridge, which is usual though, people will be tempted to start using alternative routes, yet Kisumu is so nice stay in nowadays- very nice hotels have come up and the beauty around is very enticing.
