The future of the highly publicized Likoni cable cars is now uncertain following the construction of a floating bridge at the channel.
The cable car project, which was to be undertaken by Trapos Limited, encountered a lot of false starts. The ambitious project was to be put up across the busy Likoni Channel and it was initially meant to start in 2017 and even received Cabinet approval.
Work details involved physical survey of the sites where the landing stations and the mast will be built on the two sides of the Likoni channel. The landing station is to be built over the road and all cable cars will come under the landing station.
Likoni Cable Express
Likoni Cable Express was to be built under the public-private partnership between the state and an Australian consortium and was projected to take between 12 to 18 months to complete. The cable system was to have a total of 28 cabins carrying a maximum of 5,500 passengers per hour cross the channel in three minutes and 40 seconds.
The consortium was expected to exclusively manage and operate the cable cars for 25 years to recoup the initial investment before handing it back to the State. One of the key objectives of the project upon completion was to offer a safer means of transport across the channel and create more space for vehicles on the old and the dilapidated ferry.
However, with the construction of the Sh 1.9billion floating bridge at the Likoni crossing channel, the fate of the cable cars now hangs in the balance. According to Transport Principal Secretary Solomon Kitungu, construction of the bridge is not a complete substitute of the cable cars but added that the decision on whether to continue or not will be made by the sponsors.
“The cable car is not necessarily to be substituted by the floating bridge. However, project sponsors will have to respond accordingly. If they find out that there is no market then they might not go on with it,” said Mr Kitungu.
He said the cable cars might still be put up for the purposes of tourism as such projects are not only used for transport but also for leisure.
