TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) and the Kenyan Government through the National Treasury last week held a donors conference to highlight priority infrastructural requirements at the Mombasa Port that are in need of renewal and upgrading. The event was held in Mombasa with key participants including JICA, Development Bank of South Africa, AfDB, DFID, The World Bank, The EU Delegation to Kenya and USAID.
The donor conference was aimed at seeking funds for projects like dredging and expansion of berths 1-14, relocation of Kipevu Oil Terminal, which is currently in the middle of a very busy operations area, rehabilitation of the Wharves to provide capacity for handling coaster and other vessels of lower draft, project cargo and RoRo (Roll-on/roll-off) vessels; as well as the development of the area of G-Section that will be used for project cargo and RoRo/storage of motor vehicles.
TradeMark East Africa has mobilized approximately USD 98 Million to support the Mombasa port infrastructure, construction of a new port access road and implementation of the resilience infrastructure improvement programmes. Key among which are upgrading of Yard 5, expansion of gates 18/20 and the the development of Port Reitz Road, which was launched in February 2015vwith the aim of reducing truck operating costs along the transport route, to and from the Kipevu West Container Terminal.
The Mombasa Port has over the years recorded significant growth in traffic volumes. In the last 10 years, traffic increased more than 6% per annum to 22.3 million tons in 2013.