NAIROBI, July 18 – The Government has assured investors that modernisation of the port of Mombasa would be fast-tracked to enable the facility cope with rising volume of cargo.
Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka said the congestion in the port was worrying many business owners in the country and those from the Great Lakers region.
He noted that it was for that reason the cabinet approved the modernisation programmes and the building of a second container terminal at the port by 2015.
The Vice President made the remarks at his Jogoo House Office Friday when he held talks with the visiting Maersk Group World Wide CEO Nils S. Andersen, who paid him a courtesy call.
The modernisation programme is jointly funded by the government of and Japan Sh5 billion and Sh16 billion respectively.
Musyoka assured investors of security and a conducive investment environment.
Andersen said that the private and public partnership initiatives would provide stop-gap measure before the modernisation programme is completed.
“Private-Public partnership is the way to improving handling of cargo at the Port of Mombasa and movement of goods in East Africa and the Great Lakes Region,” he added.
The CEO expressed hope that the port would be dredged to allow larger ships to dock.
The Maersk Group has 55 Container Terminals in the World, 8 in Africa and is also involved in drilling of oil in North Sea, Nigeria and Qatar.
