Chogoria ESP Market Nears New Phase as Construction Advances

Construction of the Chogoria Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) Market in Tharaka-Nithi County is progressing steadily, with the project expected to support small-scale traders in the area. 

In a statement on Sunday, August 30, Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo said construction works started in August 2024.

Omollo said the project had made progress, with structural works currently underway as construction enters another phase.

"Structural works are advancing well, with concrete works on the ablution block currently underway alongside other key components of the project," he wrote. 

Omollo said the ongoing construction was already contributing to the local economy through employment opportunities and increased business for people and enterprises involved in supplying goods and services to the project.

"The project is already stimulating the local economy by creating jobs for youth, generating business for suppliers, transporters and other service providers, while injecting income into surrounding communities," he added. 

Omollo said the completed market would provide traders with improved facilities and a more organized environment in which to conduct their businesses. 

"Upon completion, the modern market will provide organized trading spaces, improved storage facilities and a safer, more dignified environment for small-scale traders to grow their businesses," he further said. 

Elsewhere, nearly 4,500 families in Nairobi’s Mukuru area have received keys to new affordable homes under the Government’s Affordable Housing Programme (AHP).

In a statement on Friday, August 28, Omollo said the Phase II of Boma Yangu Mukuru Estate was delivered under the government’s AHP and officially handed over by President William Ruto in December 2025. 

He said the project had turned the aspirations of thousands of Mukuru residents into a lived reality, particularly for children who had grown up in difficult living conditions.

"Barely four years ago, thousands of families in Mukuru, especially children, went to sleep in crowded, dilapidated structures, dreaming of something better. Today, that dream is a lived reality," he wrote.

Omollo said the new residential area had been designed as an integrated community where residents could access essential services without having to travel far from their homes.

"The residential area and integrated community is complemented by a completed and operational New Mukuru Primary School and ECD Centre, alongside a Level IV Hospital, shopping mall, Fire Station, Police Station, 5-million-litre water tank and metered cooking gas supply, meaning families can now live, learn, work and access essential services within their neighbourhood," he added.

Omollo said the transformation in Mukuru also demonstrated the potential of the government’s long-term development agenda, particularly the Kenya Beyond Vision 2030 blueprint.

"This success also offers a glimpse of what Kenya Beyond Vision 2030 can become.

"If we sustain the same commitment, discipline and follow-through that turned this vision into reality, we can build the safe, dignified and prosperous city and country we imagine in the Kenya Beyond Vision 2030 blueprint," he concluded.