Kisumu eyes EAC trade hub status with revival of inland port

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A section of the Kisumu bypass near Kisumu breweries between Kondele and isat bridge. that is expected to decongest the city's roads. PHOTO | JACOB OWITI 

By DALTON NYABUNDI

In Summary

• It is expected to move services closer to hinterland clients and ease pressure on the roads by reducing the number of trucks transporting cargo from the Mombasa port.

Kisumu plans to set up a logistics hub to tap the planned revival of rail and lake transport expected to improve trade as it eyes East African commercial nerve centre status. In a proposal by the Kisumu Integrated Strategic Urban Development Plan, the hub will be located at the currently idle inland container depot at Kibos.

It is expected to move services closer to hinterland clients and ease pressure on the roads by reducing the number of trucks transporting cargo from the Mombasa port.

The inland container depot built in 1994, is earmarked as a consolidation point for transit cargo and is strategically located on the Northern Corridor route currently serving as the last stop before the Ugandan border. The depot is expected to offer a good network of road, ferry and rail services to transit countries.

With a stacking area of 25,000 square metres and a capacity to handle 18,000 twenty-foot equivalent units annually, the facility is expected to return to old ways, handling up to 75 per cent of traffic arriving from the Mombasa port destined for Uganda.

Other transit destinations comprise Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which account for some 13 per cent of all transit cargo that passes through the Mombasa port.

Onward movement of containerised cargo from the depot will be through a connection from the lake port by freight ferries to Jinja or Musoma and road via Busia border.

The revival of inland container depot coincides with the completion of the road upgrades that include the Northern by-pass, commencement of cargo handling at the Kisumu International Airport and the planned upgrade of the lake port.

The committee steering the strategic plan said: “The hub will, therefore, serve as an important transit point for onward movement of cargo to the great lakes region and hinterland countries, as well as economies that lie on the Northern Corridor.”

If the plan is implemented, the facility is expected to host cargo handling facilities, warehouses and personnel for enhanced trade. The plan is expected to be tabled in the county assembly for debate early next year.