Kenya: Phase II of Port Terminal to Begin in 2017
Work on phase two of the Mombasa Port second container terminal will begin in early 2017, Kenya Ports Authority managing director Gichiri Ndua has said.
He said this will involve construction of berth 22 at cost of Sh22 billion. This follows the ahead of schedule work on phase one which commenced in 2012 and is currently 92 per cent ready with a completion date of February next year earlier than the March date.
It will cost Sh27 billion when complete and comprise of berths 20 and 21. "It will provide additional capacity of between 470,000 and 550,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (a measure of a single container capacity) annually," Ndua said in a statement yesterday.
He said phase three would then follow, which will see the development of berth 23, with a 300-meter length and a side berth of 80 meters long.
The entire project is estimated to cost $900million (Sh91.8 billion). "Construction of phase three will give additional capacity of 450,000 TEUs," Ndua said.
The government signed a Sh24.7 billion loan agreement with the Japanese government in March, for commencement of the second phase of the project. "The terminal is scheduled to be operated by an international terminal operator, through a 25-year concession, whose identification process is on-going," Ndua said. The current container terminal capacity stands at around 1.1 million TEUs.
"We are just waiting for the loan process to be complete," KPA head of corporate affairs Bernard Osero said separately on phone yesterday.
He said designs for the planned relocation of the oil handling facilities at Kipevu have been completed, and they will be developed into extended container handling facilities, to complement the existing capacities of berths 16 to 19.
"The tender for the relocation project is expected to be out early next year," Osero said. Latest traffic forecast indicates the annual container throughput will rise from 1.012 million TEUs handled in 2014 to 1.12 million this year.
It is expected to further grow to 1.8 million upwards to three million TEUs between 2016 and 2030. Global rankings put Mombasa port at position 112 globally an improvement from position 120 in 2014. It is ranked fifth in Africa.
Source: The StarPosted On:5-Nov-2015
Credits: www.hellenicshippingnews.com |
