President Uhuru Kenyatta has reopened the Sh3 billion refurbished Kisumu port set to boost the economy of the Eastern Africa region. According to the head of state, refurbishment of the port, which had been dormant for decades, started in 2019. It is deemed as the Handshake pet project.
“The revival of this port was informed by the need to revamp the economy of the East Africa region and beyond,” said President Kenyatta.
Key in the revival of the port is the launch of revitalised wagon ferry, MV Uhuru and the Kisumu Kenya Shipyard Limited. Kenya Shipyard Limited, a state agency, under the management of KDF, will repair, refurbish and rehabilitate ships for use in Lake Victoria.
MV Uhuru 1
The president launched the shipyard and laid the keel for the construction of the MV Uhuru 2 that will be built from scratch by the Kenya Navy in collaboration with Damen Civil Works, a Dutch company.
“This vessel will support our sister ship which we rehabilitated has caused movement of over 50 million litres of fuel between port city if Kisumu and Uganda, therefore, reducing the cost of fuel in Uganda as a result of the cost of reduction of transport as well as the reduction in losses during transportation,” said the head of state.
The President, who is on a tour of the Nyanza region for the Makadara Day celebrations at Jomo Kenyatta International Stadium in Kisumu, also relaunched the refurbished MV Uhuru 1. The ship was refurbished by the military at a cost of Sh 50million. Since its refurbishment, MV Uhuru 2 has ferried about 50 million litres of fuel to Jinja in Uganda. KDF has also developed model fishing boats that they intend to use to produce fishing boats to benefit the local fishermen.
