Kisumu’s Sh2.5b mall to be ready by August

Kisumu, Kenya: The construction of a new mall expected to be the largest such facility in Western Kenya is underway in Kisumu’s Mamboleo area.

The Sh2.5 billion Lake Basin Mall is being constructed by the Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA) on the Kisumu-Kakamega road and will comprise a five-star hotel, a regional resource centre, more than 1,000 housing units and a complex consisting of three office blocks. It will serve as the LBDA headquarters in Kisumu.

It will also have what is expected to be the region’s biggest children’s playground and recreational park. It will have a parking area that can accommodate about 500 cars.

The construction of the mall, which has been going on, is expected to be completed by August this year. The facility, the first of its kind outside the town’s central business district, becomes the fifth mall in Kisumu.

The other malls in the lakeside town are United Mall, Nakumatt Mega Mall, Tuff Foam and West End Mall.

Anchor tenant

Already, Uchumi supermarket, which opened its first retail shop in the town last year, has signed a deal with the Lake Basin Development Authority to be the anchor tenant in the 25,000-metre mall.

Uchumi’s CEO Jonathan Ciano said the company has finalised its two-year formative stage and is now looking into further expansion in different regions, including Kisumu, which has witnessed tremendous growth in recent years.

“By positioning ourselves in Kisumu, we want to take advantage of the vast lands in the Lake Basin to empower locals to grow agro-processing industries and boost small and medium enterprises (SMEs),” he said.

Ciano said that in the next few years, Mamboleo will be become the city’s connection point “and we are positioning ourselves to tap into the large number of travellers who will be converging here”.

Lake Basin Development Authority Chairman Onyango Oloo said Kisumu has been experiencing minimal growth due to lack of adequate infrastructure, but with the government and private investors beginning to fill this gap, the city may rival Nairobi in playing host to large businesses.

“Kisumu is the best location for investors in the East African Community and the rapid infrastructure expansion is good for the city’s economy,” said Oloo, saying that Uchumi, which plans to rent 70 per cent of the available space, will support local smallholder farmers.

 

Kisumu has lately seen an increase in the number of new infrastructure development such as the construction of the Kisumu-Busia road, Kisumu-Kakamega road and Kisumu-Nairobi road. The French government-funded Kisumu Urban Project has already handed over a number of projects to the community including 21-metre high floodlights in 14 wards and the Lake Victoria Water Services Board’s Waste Water Treatment Plant at Kisat along Busia Road.

Other projects which have been undertaken under the programme include the rehabilitation of the main pipeline and storage facilities at Tom Mboya estate.

Also lined up for commencement include a CBD drainage upgrading at Sh150 million, relocation of Kachok dumpsite at a cost of Sh800 million, rehabilitation of markets, public facilities and infrastructure.