MOMBASA PORT OPERATION REVERTS
Kenya'sPresident William Ruto has returned all port operations transferred to Nairobi and Naivasha Inland Container Depots (ICDs) to Mombasa, reversing one of the most controversial policies of the Jubilee administration.
To ensure that the standard gauge railway (SGR) has minimum guaranteed business to repay the Ksh450 billion ($3.7 billion) debt taken to build it, the Uhuru Kenyatta administration forced traders to use the modern railway line, a policy that saw the government transfer clearance to enforce compliance.
Speaking on Tuesday during his inauguration, Dr Ruto said the move is aimed at restoring thousands of jobs that had been lost in Mombasa.
“This afternoon, I will be issuing instructions for clearance of all goods and other attendant operational issues to revert to the port of Mombasa. This restores thousands of jobs in the city of Mombasa,” said Dr Ruto.
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2019 launched the extended SGR freight services from Mombasa to the Naivasha ICD, promising faster transportation of cargo to western Kenya and on to neighbouring countries.
He also put in place various policies to protect the SGR but ended up hurting transporters who lost thousands of jobs at the Kenyan coast.
The directive is also likely to hurt the businesses that had set up in Naivasha after the directive. The Naivasha ICD was at the heart of Kenya’s ambition to become the transport corridor of choice for neighbouring countries like Tanzania and Uganda.
The State also launched in the same year the upgraded ICD in Nairobi to promote efficient transportation of bulk cargo from the port of Mombasa to the hinterland. The Nairobi ICD which was built by the China Roads and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) was expected to decongest the port of Mombasa while lowering the cost of transporting goods.
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