A ship docks at Mombasa port. PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA | NMG
Rotterdam based company has been contracted to plan for building of 11 ports in the country.
Maritime and Transport Business Solutions (MTBS) is offering consultancy services for developing a master plan for the ports.
The
Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) announced on its website that MTBS will
carry out the project together with Nairobi based Runji and Partners.
The
master plan will facilitate the development of the ports “taking due
cognisance of the long term development framework as outlined under
Vision 2030. The KPA is responsible for the Port of Mombasa and today’s
coastal small ports such as Funzi, Shimoni and Vanga located in the
south coast, Mtwapa, Kilifi, Malindi, Lamu and Kiunga further north,”
said part of the announcement.
KPA said that apart from the 11 ports, an assessment has been made regarding other potential sites along the coast.
Two additional potential port sites identified are Takaungu and Ngomeni.
In Lamu, KPA and the national government are developing a second commercial port at Manda Bay.
The port is meant to tap into the South Sudan and Ethiopia markets under the LAPSSET initiative.
It
will consist of a total of 32 berths when completed. Shimoni Port in
Kwale is situated off Wasini Island in the South Coast. It is small and
has limited connection to the hinterland. With volume of about 10,000
metric tonnes, it is by far the largest port of all small coastal ports.
Destinations
from the port are mainly Pemba Island and Zanzibar. The facility has
potential to accommodate rising coastal trade volumes.
KPA is working in collaboration with the Kwale county government to develop Shimoni Port into a fishing and tourist facility.
Malindi
Port is situated in Malindi town and consists of a pier which is used
as a landing site in the unsheltered sea. It mainly serves the local
fishing industry.
KPA plans to develop the pier to
enable fish and tourist boats to land at the port. There is a jetty for
fish landing on the beach, handling about 1,250 tonnes per year and
8,000 tourist boat moves.
KPA intends to acquire 2,500
square metres of land for port development. The authority will build
offices, cold storage for fish, ice making and boat repair facilities as
well as fuel stations and tourist offices.
KPA also
plans to acquire land around Ngomeni in Kilifi County to build a jetty
for handling fish and other cargo with potential to develop into a major
port.
The port currently handles about 550 metric tonnes of fish, about 1,500 kilos per day.
It also handles about 1,500 metric tonnes of other merchandise.
“Ngomeni Port has a natural sheltered harbour with good nautical access, 20km North of Malindi,” KPA says on its website.
The authority also plans to develop a small scale fish landing point and some marina berths in Mtwapa
It has already found land for the project, which is considered suitable to develop an artisanal fishing port.
In
Kiunga, KPA has assessed two sites. The current landing site has been
proposed as a port for fish landing as well as cotton and coconut
exports.
The port handles about 2,500 metric tonnes of fish per year and 1,000 metric tonnes of mainly cotton and coconut.
On its website, KPA says it plans to acquire 20 acres of land for the development of the facility into a fishing port.
It will also dredge the channel and build a jetty, put up administration buildings and a fish storage facility.
Last
Friday, Maritime and Transport Business Solutions announced that it
started consultancy services on July 10 and was mapping out East Africa
Community (EAC) ports as well as the transport infrastructure to
facilitate trade.
The EAC plans to develop an integrated regional transport network to facilitate intra-regional trade.
“MTBS
was selected by the Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute of
Eastern and Southern Africa to provide consultancy services to support
the East African Community (EAC) in establishing a regional policy
guideline for the development of port projects.
“The
ports include Mombasa, Lamu, Dar es Salaam, Mtwara, Bujumbura, Kisumu,
Rubavu, Rusizi, Juba, Kigoma, Mwanza, Mbamba Bay, Port Bell and Bukasa.
“MTBS
will identify port development projects for the short, medium and
long-term and will perform an economic cost benefit analysis to
prioritise projects that must be developed in the short-term,” the
statement on the its website states.
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