Aerial view of Mombasa container port
The government of Kenya has pledged to construct a USD200 million (Ksh16 billion) cargo terminal at the Mombasa port.
The Mombasa Container Terminal, scheduled for completion by 2013, is expected to increase the capacity of the port by 1.2 million containers.
Kenya has already signed a USD200 million loan agreement with the government of Japan for the project.
A recent statement from the Kenya Ports Authority(KPA) said the project is part of measures by the government and KPA aimed to improve service delivery at the port and to ensure efficient transit of cargo along the northern corridor.
According to the statement, works on the project will be carried out together with dredging of the port channel to reach 15 metres of depth alongside.
The port of Mombasa is currently heavily silted as it has not been dredged for many years. As a result the port can only handle smaller vessels with a maximum of 2,500 containers.
The cargo being received at Mombasa port has risen by more than 40% (4 million tonnes) over the past five years. About half a million containers transit through the port every annually.
