Following the completion of Naivasha Modern Market, the Chief Officer for Trade, Business Support and Industrialization Mr Samuel Ndegwa and the Naivasha Sub-county administrator King’ori Mwangi visited the facility for a familiarization tour.
Government officials, county enforcement officers, firefighters and traders, joined the tour, which was conducted by the project’s architect and contractor.
The facility consists of four blocks. The first is the 3-floor market section with 243 open spaces and 89 closed stalls.
Each floor on block 1 has bathrooms, and washrooms including washrooms specially built to serve people living with disabilities. Apart from the three staircases to access the upper floors, there is also a ramp for use by wheelchairs.
Every floor has also been fitted with easily accessible firefighting equipment, smoke detectors, a revenue booth and on the second floor, a baby care section. 
“We set aside this space to cater for parents with little children who would wish to wash and change their babies without much hassle,” revealed the contractor as he took the team around the modern facility.
On the ground floor, space has been set aside for a restaurant to serve food and refreshments to the traders and any other clients who may wish to eat or drink there.
The whole building is environment friendly with natural light lighting most of the space. The building has also been well supplied with electrical power.
For use by the traders, the market has a 49,000 litres capacity tank and another underground rain-fed tank with a capacity of 69,000 ltrs. The water will promote cleanliness and hygiene within the marketing, therefore, preventing the outbreak of such diseases as cholera and typhoid. The 69,000 litres capacity tank will serve the firefighting equipment.
The CO emphasised that traders who previously occupied the land on which the market is built will be given priority when the time to allocate the slots in the new market comes. 
In an earlier meeting attended by both the CEC for Urban Planning John Kihagi and Trade, Stephen Kuria, the market leaders were requested to be fair in the allocation of space and to avoid selling the spaces fraudulently.
While on a visit to the market, then under construction, late last year, Nakuru County Governor Susan Kihika had warned that those giving out money to “buy” slots at the new market were doing so at their own risk.
“If you give out money to anyone in the name of buying space at the new market, don’t blame anyone if you end up losing the money. Distribution will give priority to the original traders,” Governor Kihika had warned.
The MCA for Viwandani Ward, Mwangi Muraya and the Lakeview Ward MCA, Alex Mbugua who had attended the CECs meetings had proposed that the traders be trained on safety and security features at the new market before operations began.
Currently, the market is 99% complete and should be occupied anytime in the next few weeks.
The President is expected to officially open the Naivasha Modern Market in two weeks’ time when he attends the Kenya Urban Forum at Lake Naivasha Resort later in the month.
