Infrastructure

Sh27bn Mombasa Port Terminal Nears Completion

The new terminal’s capacity is expected to rise to 1.1 million Teus by 2019.

Updated on

May 25, 2015

Over the decade, traffic through Mombasa port has grown by 7.4% annually. PHOTO | FILE

Work on the second container terminal at the port of Mombasa is 85 per cent complete and ahead of schedule, the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has said.

KPA head of corporate affairs Bernard Osero was last week quoted by local media as saying that phase one of the new terminal was expected to be ready a month or two ahead of the March 2016 completion date.

The facility will add a capacity of 450,000 twenty feet equivalent units (Teus) – a measure of a single container capacity – bringing the port’s total capacity to about 1.55 million Teus from 1.1 million Teus.

The new terminal’s capacity is expected to rise to 1.1 million Teus by 2019.

The facility, which is being constructed at Kilindini Harbour on 100 hectares of reclaimed land was launched in December 2012 by then President Mwai Kibaki.

It will have three berths with quay lengths of 230, 320, and 350 metres. The larger berths will handle Panamax container ships of 20,000 DWT and Post Panamax vessels of 60,000 DWT.

“The terminal will expand the container handling capacity of the port of Mombasa to match future trends, stay competitive in cargo handling, and facilitate economic development in the northern corridor,” the KPA managing director Gichiri Ndua said in a recent interview.

The project is funded by the Japanese government through the Japan International Co-operation Agency (Jica), within the Special Terms for Economic Partnership, at an interest rate of 0.2 per cent and a repayment period of 40 years including a 10-year grace period.

Japan has provided Sh26 billion while Kenya through KPA has invested the compulsory funding of Sh5 billion plus Sh612 million for compensating those displaced by the project.

Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors of Netherlands won the dredging tender, while China Roads and Bridge Corporation was contracted to construct the new cargo berth.