President Uhuru Kenyatta commissions expansion of Mombasa port

By Standard Digital Reporter

NAIROBI, KENYA: President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday commissioned Mombasa Port Berth 19, deepest berth in East African coast

The facility will aid in berthing of larger container ships and improve operations at the Mombasa port. “Today’s launch marks governments commitment to improving business in the region, this is the deepest berth in East African Coast,” he noted.

“We want to make Mombasa port one of the largest, busiest and business friendly in the East African coast,” he said. He said the government is working on measures to upgrade road and railway lines to improve cargo processing thereby reducing cost of doing business.

“We are in the next few years going to increase rail freight from the current 4 to 50 per cent, the strategy will work well with other plans such as the introduction of technology at the port to efficiently serve our neighbors” he said.

Uhuru also said Mombasa Port must position itself to serve the interests of the entire East Africa region.

He said the Port that is the gateway to the region demands higher standards of integrity, efficiency, discipline and accountability in order to consolidate the role it plays in the transport logistics chain, road and rail systems.

The President said his Government intends to transform the Port of Mombasa into the largest, busiest and most business-friendly sea-port on the East African coast.

He said receiving, processing and transporting cargo to customers in a timely fashion is a critical indicator of the port's productivity.

The occassion was graced by Presidents Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Paul Kagame (Rwanda), and a number of dignitaries drawn from different countries within the East African region