Meru’s once muddy bus parks get facelift

The Riverland bus park. Previously, it was muddy when it rained, inconveniencing operators and passengers

MERU: Just under a year ago butcher Stephen Mugambi was an unhappy businessman.

Whenever it rained, the stretch leading to his butchery at Makutano, Meru County was impassable. And during the dry spell, dust literally scared away customers.

Mugambi, who has been running butchery for 15 years, says when it rained, his customers were forced to go elsewhere because they lacked access to his premises. This, he says, gave him sleepless nights.

“Those who jumped over puddles or ploughed through the mud  to visit my butchery, mostly muddied their clothes.    I had to pay someone to clean up all the time,” Mugambi says.

But Mugambi is now a happy butcher because the Meru County government has paved parking lots coming right up to his premises.

“Now, customers can even park their cars in front of the butchery because of the county government’s carbro project. Customers used to go elsewhere because the mud made this area inaccessible,” Mugambi says.

MUDDY STAGES

James Kinyua, whose matatu plies the Meru-Nkubu route, says that in the past, they dropped and picked passengers in muddy bus terminals, but not any more.

“Passengers were forced to wade through the mud before they boarded or alighted from vehicles. But the county government has now paved the terminal and our matatus are now clean, ” said Kinyua.

“The town was an eyesore when it rained. Owners of vehicles were greatly inconvenienced by the muddy parking lot. So we undertook to construct new parking bays in all major towns, including Meru, Makutano, Nkubu, Maua, Timau and others.

These have now been paved and the towns look neat, even during the rainy season,” said Newton Itobi, the Roads and Infrastructure Executive.

 Various infrastructural projects are also complete or close to completion.

In Meru town, the Meru Miraa vendors’ street now has a cabro surface laid out at a cost of Sh1.3 million. At Makutano, two major parking bays have been paved with cabro.

The upgrading of the  Nevada-Equity road area and Makutano are also complete and cost the county Sh8 million. The county has also paved the Riverland matatu terminal.

READY FOR USE

The upgrading of Timau, Nkubu, and Kionyo matatu bus terminals are also complete, while paving of the Nkubu town loop road is ongoing.

The Timau town bus terminal  has also been paved  while the Timau market loop surface dressing was done at a cost of Sh20 million.

Also complete is the surface dressing of Maua Bank Street-Makiri and the Maua Stage-Nyambene District Hospital which was done at a cost of Sh12 million.

 Surface dressing of the Millenium-Gakoromone market section was done at a cost of Sh10 million.