Uhuru Kenyatta announces plan to build Voi dry port to help ease traffic in Mombasa

 

President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced plans to establish a dry port in Voi town to decongest the port of Mombasa.

The Head of State said the dry port is one of the flagship projects the Jubilee administration is establishing to attract investment and create jobs for youth in the county.

President Kenyatta, accompanied by Deputy President William Ruto, made the remarks when he disembarked from the train at the Voi railway station in Taita Taveta County, which he officially opened Wednesday.

Drumming up support for his re-election bid, President Kenyatta said the Government would construct the proposed dry port to not only decongest the Mombasa port but also to alleviate poverty and unemployment.

Uhuru was received by local leaders among them Senator Dan Mwazo, County Woman Representative Joyce Lay, Taveta MP Naomi Shaban, and all the county Jubilee aspirants.

Mr Mwazo, who recently joined the ruling coalition from ODM, asked the President to officially announce the establishment of the dry port in the town.

The senator asked the President to allay fears that the Voi flagship project had been relocated to Naivasha in Nakuru County.

During his recent visit to the region to drum up support for ODM leader and NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga, Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho claimed that the project was set aside by the Grand Coalition government to be implemented in the region but that the Jubilee administration had relocated it to Naivasha.

Mr Joho, a fierce critic of the Jubilee administration, said during the reign of the Grand Coalition, President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga had agreed to establish the dry port in Voi town but that the Jubilee government had transferred it to Naivasha.

“We all supported the project to be established in Voi town, which would have thrived due to increase in the volume of business as the town is strategically situated along the busy Nairobi-Mombasa highway, about 150km from the port of Mombasa,” the ODM deputy party leader claimed.

Job opportunities

President Kenyatta assured the local residents that the proposed project would be implemented in Voi town and and that it would help increase volume of business and create job opportunities in the region.

The President promised more goodies for the local community, announcing that the Government would soon implement the multi-billion shilling Mzima II Spring pipeline project to end perennial water shortage in the county.

He said water scarcity would be a thing of the past once the project that is expected to cost more than Sh30 billion is implemented.

“The tender for the project has already been awarded and the project will be implemented soon to benefit the local community first before other counties can reap from it,” he said.

The first phase of the project was established in 1957 and mostly benefits Mombasa.

“The mega water project is geared towards transforming the lives of the local community as it will create jobs and improve food security,” said President Kenyatta.

The region is grappling with persistent water and food shortages due to unreliable rainfall and human-wildlife conflict.

Uhuru said the project would satisfy residents’ requirements for domestic use and irrigation and ranching as core economic activities.

He added that the Government would fast-track the implementation of the water project to supply the county’s lowlands.

Uhuru said he would visit the region soon to commission the tarmacking of the 56km Bura-Mgange-Werugha-Mbale-Msau-Mtwamwagodi road and other development projects.

He caused laughter when he told the crowd that the Voi-Mwatate-Wundanyi road, which was tarmacked in the 1970s when his father, Jomo Kenyatta, was president, was rehabilitated for the first time this year during his reign.

Mr Ruto said the Jubilee administration had promised to build roads for all Kenyans.

“We should take credit for major infrastructural projects,” he said.

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