KPA planning new master plan for port expansion

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

28 Feb 2008

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has asked a consultant to draw up a new master plan after the initial one was found to be inconsistent with the port' expansion projections, Shipping News has reliably learnt. Haskoning Nederland BV from Netherlands in association with MA Consulting from Kenya carried out the ''Masterplan Project of the Port of Mombasa,'' which  started  in 2003 and completed in 2004.But now the developed master plan will have to be redeveloped afresh after new trends emerged that could not be well covered by the plan.The scope of the project included a port business development in which it reviewed trade forecast, strategic position of the port, port organisation and development of public private partnerships.The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) is reviewing its 25-year  master plan developed in 2005 after it was found to contain proposals on port expansion that could not work.According to the authority there have been major strides that have been made in the regional economic front that necessitate a re-look of the prescribed programme.  The company will analyse the changes in the operating environment since 2004 and undertake traffic forecasts for the port of Mombasa for the next 25 years.The consultant is also expected to analyse present port operations to determine future port infrastructural development needs and review and determine the behaviour and plans of shipping lines.According to a statement that had been released by the KPA acting procurement manager, Mr Johnson Gachanja, before the company was picked it was agreed that the consultant will analyse and quantify the potential of Port of Mombasa to serve as a transshipment hub.A marketing strategy for the port of Mombasa and an investment plan on short, medium and long terms will also have to be developed.The document had come under sharp focus by the management after some of its proposals were seen to be unworkable and unrealistic.The proposals include plans to turn the car section, popularly known as G-Section, into a Free Trade Zone (FTZ) that after public advertisement did not elicit any response from interested investors. The management has therefore had to look again into the contents of the Plan to make it consistent with the trends in the market.Apart from the FTZ, the second container terminal proposal in the Master plan has been turned down with a new one already in top gear to be constructed near the Kipevu Oil Terminal.The master plan had proposed either berths 4 to 7 or berths 7 to 11 be turned into the container terminal but the berths have been found to be “too small for any future expansion and are already too congested before the construction starts”.KPA Managing Director, Mr Abdalla Mwaruwa said — while criticising the previous plan— it was not the final plan for future development of the port.“There are new proposals and trends in the market and we will take the route that is beneficial to the authority’s future,” he said in an interview. He said the plan would continue to be reviewed in areas that seem to be unrealistic or economically viable.Mr Mwaruwa mentioned the privatisation of the Inland Container Depots in Embakasi and Kisumu as some of the aspects also shelved.''The investments in the ICD's are enormous and are yet to be productive. No one can invest in such areas because the expectation of the KPA would be higher than the investors can match,'' he said. Now the FTZ will have to wait the much talked about Dongo Kundu bypass to be constructed before it can get the green light. Mr Mwaruwa said the G Section land was too small and the Dongo Kundu one, with 3,000 acres is inaccessible because of lack of a by-pass .The second container terminal - to be constructed from reclaimed land -is expected to cost $300 million once it is complete by 2020 and will have three berths, 900 metres quay length and a back-up of 100 acres. The first phase, to be ready by 2013, would cost $161 million and includes an access road, the terminal and equipment, he said.It will have a capacity to handle 1.2 million Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit (TEU’s) per year and handle large ships that currently give Mombasa a wide berth due to the shallow depth of its water.The new developments now casts into doubt the viability of the whole master plan and whether it could be used to make decisions that affect the future of the port development.