Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani has affirmed that Kenya is not at risk of losing Mombasa Port any soon over debt. The CS reacted to claims that the assets of the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) were used as collateral for the multi-billion loan.
“The Government of Kenya through the National Treasury entered into three loans agreements with the Export-Import Bank of China to finance the construction of Standard Gauge Railway. The loan agreements were reviewed by the Attorney General for assurance that it conforms to laws of the country, before signature of Treasury CS on behalf of the government. Therefore, the Government is servicing the SGR loans in accordance with the provisions of the loan agreements and the Public Finance Management Act 2012,” explained CS Yattani.
Mombasa Port
Mombasa Port is the only international commercial port in Kenya and the most essential port of East Africa. It plays roles of not only the gateway port of Kenya, but also the hub port in the area, dealing with the transit cargos to the landlocked countries in central Africa such as Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda.
Works at the Mombasa port phase II second container terminal is currently ongoing with completion date set for November this year. It is an extension to the Phase one of the Second Container Terminal, built on a Sh 26bn loan from Japan, and commissioned in April 2016.
The phase is being developed by Japanese firm, Toyo Construction Company, who was also behind the first phase, which involved reclaiming of a sea area of about 50 acres, a project that created 550,000 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit (TEUs) capacity with two new berths.
Phase II is being developed on another reclaimed 50-acre sea area. The second terminal is an important facility that is expected to raise capacity of the port of Mombasa to allow larger container vessels to dock. This will enable the port to fight off growing competition from the Port of Dar es Salaam in the neighboring republic of Tanzania.
Upon completion, the port is projected to be handle an extra 450,000 TEUs per year, thereby pushing up the port’s total handling capacity to 2.1 million TEUs in the next three years. It is currently at 56.3 % complete with the due date set for November 2021.
