The Treasury is seeking to raise more than Sh48billion ($500 million) for development projects at the Mombasa Port in a move expected to address capacity challenges at the facility.

At the same time, the government has embarked on road expansion projects at Jomvu, Miritini, Changamwe, Port Reitz and all port precincts with a view to reducing congestion in East Africa’s largest seaport.

On Friday, Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich, in partnership with Trade Mark East Africa (TMA), made a pitch for funding when he hosted several international donors at Swahili Beach Hotel, Diani, who pledged their support.

The key projects include the dredging and expansion of berths 1 to 14, relocation of the Kipevu oil terminal, development of the G-Section area that will be used for project cargo and storage of motor vehicles and deepening the berths to allow handling of high-capacity vessels.

Region’s gateway “The government is keen on achieving its Vision 2030 goals, and to do this investments are required in infrastructure that will facilitate growth. The Mombasa port is the region’s gateway and with increased volumes of trade, investments are required to ensure the facility copes with the demands and improve our competitiveness,’’ Mr Rotich said.

Donors represented at the conference include Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), Development Bank of South Africa, African Development Bank (ADB), Department for International Development (DFID), The World Bank, The EU Delegation to Kenya and United States Agency for International Development (USAid).

To improve evacuation of cargo from the port, roads from Port Reitz and Moi International Airport and the Miritini-Mombasa road will be expanded to dual carriageway.

While the contractor is currently mobilising equipment with ground-breaking for the airport road expected to be announced soon, funds have been secured for construction of part of the Miritini-Mombasa road. Mr Rotich signed a Sh10 billion agreement with AfDB for the construction of a 10-kilometre stretch between Miritini and Jomvu.

The government is keen on achieving its Vision 2030 goals National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich

TMA director general David Stanton said his organisation was committed to spearheading the projects. “At the moment, East Africa has among the highest freight and transport costs in the world. These costs seriously erode the competitiveness of goods exported by East African countries, reducing trade, economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction,” he said. Britain’s Difd and TMA also signed a Sh3.5 billion grant agreement for modernisation works at the port. This additional funding now brings total DfiD funding to the port to Sh10 billion.

“The modernisation work at the port of Mombasa will take into account environmental and social aspects and this will go a long way towards complementing existing projects, and in expanding the flow of benefits to stakeholders, including the population of Mombasa and the wider East Africa Community residents,” said DfiD deputy head Tony Gardner.

The Port of Mombasa has over the years recorded significant growth in volumes. In the last 10 years, traffic increased more than six per cent per annum to 22.3 million tonnes in 2013 and 24.2 million tonnes in 2014. Container traffic grew faster on average by more than eight per cent and the port is projected it will handle 26 million tonnes this year.

Source: reelforge

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TradeMark Africa.