Sh32 Billion of Phase 2 of Second Container Terminal: Of the Kenya Ports Authority at the Port of Mombasa is finished off and…commissioning in June of 2022

By Abdul Rahman Bangura–

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS (NADN) Freetown, Sierra Leone - Building of the terminal that began in September 2018, is anticipated to improve the port’s annual capacity by 450,000 containers, giving rise to the cumulative annual capacity to 2.1 million containers. Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) verified that, the Japanese contractor, Tokyo Construction Company Limited, has finalized the project that has been characterized by stakeholders as a game changer.

Announcement from KPA started, the handing-over ceremony will be done pretty much soon after the Authority and pertinent government agencies examine inspectacility that is located on 100 acres at Kilindini Harbour.

Representatives of Tokyo Construction Company steered by Hironari Sahara, Civil Construction Division Manager and Shuichi Aikawa, General Manager International Division, held a meeting with KPA officials and ensured the fulfillment of the project.

KPA was exemplified during the meeting that took place at the Kipevu Headquarters by General Manager Cargo Operations, Sudi Mwasinago and the General Manager Infrastructure Development, Abdullahi Samatar. The project was subsidized through a government-to-government loan facility from the Japanese government under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Mombasa Port terminal will have three berths with lengths of 230,320 and 350 metres, where the largest berths will handle Panamax container ships of 20,000 deadweight tonnage and post Panamax vessels of 60,000.

The Phase One of the second container terminal, built at a cost of Sh26 billion, which indicating a sea area of about 50 acres, creating 550,000 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit (TEUs) capacity, was commissioned in 2016. The Mombasa Port is the gateway for landlocked nations such as Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, and has recently glimpsed important development through multi-billion infrastructural and technology investment.

The expansion programme, included the construction of Phase Two of the second container terminal and Sh40 billion Kipevu Oil Terminal (KOT), are a portion of the measures to transform the port into a logistics hub in the region. Fellows of the National Development Implementation Technical Committee (NDITC) which in charge of the undertaking of government projects and programmes previously toured the port, to examine its facilities and operations.

The Committee led by its Chairman – Dr. Karanja Kibicho, conveyed gratification with the favorable growths and measures, to make the port more productive and recreational. Dr. Kibicho who is similarly the Principal Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government called on all the actors to endeavor to enhance efficiency and lessen the cost of doing business to make the port one of the best globally.

“The overall objective is to make the port of Mombasa a classic facility, achieve high productivity and guarantee efficiency globally of freight services to importers and exporters,” Dr. Kibicho noted. He referred the good accomplishment to adequate coordination amongst state agencies and other maritime stakeholders.

For New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports,  Africa Correspondent