| dc.description.abstract | Third world cities are undergoing rapid growth accompanied by rapid development pressures
with high demands for housing and infrastructure as a result of high population growth rates.
Some of these cities are doubling in population and have more than doubled in area within
the last few years. 2008 saw, for the first time in history, over half of the world’s population
living in urban areas. According to current projections, these will have risen to 70% by 2050.
Almost all the growth will take place in developing regions. Rodrigue (2008) asserts that the
outcome (of the massive urbanization transition) has been a fundamental change in the socioeconomic
environment of human activities as urbanization involves new forms of
employment, economic activity and lifestyle. More and more people flock into urban centres
to meet their livelihood needs. One such town in Kenya whose growth is great and expected
to rise further is Eldoret in the Rift Valley Province.
On one hand, the role of Eldoret Central Business District (ECBD) in the local context as a
transport centre, commercial centre, administrative centre, business centre, and service
centre, among others contributes to a myriad of its woes. Among the problems that have been
cited to plague the ECBD in relation to these is traffic congestion. On the other hand, its
importance as an international transport centre is made worse by the location of the
international trunk road, the class A, A 104 Namanga-Kampala Road, right at the heart of the
ECBD. Cargo freight heavy trucks en-route to various international destinations, loaded to
capacity with the cargo from the Port of Mombasa, which may not have any business at the
ECBD, have to pass through it. | en |
