Cargo handling and transport on Lake Victoria received a major boost lately with Tanzania and Kenya taking positive steps towards revamping the once vibrant East Africa hub. For instance, Tanzania signed a deal with two Chinese groups — China Civil Engineering Construction and China Railway 15th Bureau — for the construction of a 3.2km bridge over parts of Lake Victoria recently.
Freight Logistics has learnt that the bridge will connect Kigongo and Busisi areas in Mwanza region, and help to link Tanzania to Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi via road. Currently, vehicles take about three hours to cross to either side of the lake via a ferry — two hours in a queue to get onto the ferry and another hour to get to the other side.
“The bridge will reduce transport time and facilitate trade among countries in the region,” said the chief executive of the Tanzania Roads Agency, Patrick Mfugale.
The government, through the Marine Service Company Ltd and Uganda Railway Corporation, has also set up a one-stop centre for the smooth haulage of cargo and passengers.
Tanzania’s Minister of Works Transport and Communication Isaac Kamwelwe said that cargo lorries arriving at Mwanza from the Dar es Salaam port will go directly to the freight ship destined for Uganda via Port Bell without their content being offloaded.
“The central corridor has for long been suggested as an alternative route for Uganda. A lot is being done in the recent past to make this a genuinely viable option for cargo transporters in Uganda”. remarked a freight forwarder from Uganda.
Kenya on the other hand has committed a total of Sh3 billion face-lift of Kisumu Port which is set for completion in a move that is expected to restore the ports former glory. This will allow docking of the big vessels to transport goods with its neighbouring countries.
The renovated port is expected to be officially commissioned by President Uhuru Kenyatta, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Felix Tshisekedi of DR Congo before the end of this year.
There are plans to repair the 1,000-tonne and 91-meter-long MV Uhuru ship which is expected to be ready when the port will be commissioned. The Lake Victoria cargo ferry has been grounded for years. But residents are optimistic that once it starts operations, more job opportunities will be created.
African Union (AU) High Representative for Infrastructure Development and former Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga said that following these plans, the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) and the Kenya Ports Authority will respectively rehabilitate the old railways from Nakuru to Kisumu and refurbish the old Port.
“As you are aware, the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) has now reached Naivasha. The railway will bring cargo up to this Port of Kisumu and from there it will be loaded on the ship and transported to Uganda. However, that is just a temporary measure. I want to announce that the SGR is coming here as well and very soon the work is going to start and it will commence where a new Port will be constructed,” he said.
Mr. Odinga recalled how the Port of Kisumu used to be vibrant in the previous years with ships docking on an hourly basis bringing goods from Mwanza, Bukoba, Port Bell and Jinja.
He regretted that thousands of jobs had been lost following the lull of the Kisumu Port and that for lack of activities the water hyacinth found its way in the Lake Victoria.
“There’s a lot of dumping in the lake polluting the environment which attracts hyacinth hence the gulf here has become very shallow, it is confounded by the Mbita causeway which was constructed and blocked the flow of water in a main way,” he said.
“Now they have built a bridge in Mbita but did not remove the boulders underneath and water is not flowing properly. Last week we talked with President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and instructions were given that all those boulders below the Mbita Bridge will be removed for water to flow,” he added.
He went on to explain to the public that since the Kenya Pipeline had already constructed a jetty on the other side of the Kisumu Pier it meant that oil could be collected from Kisumu to Uganda by ship which was a cheaper and more cost-effective mode of transport compared to the road.
Port of Kisumu remains one of the key priority projects that would make the Trans-African Highway a practical route from Lagos to Mombasa, Mombasa to Kisumu, Kisumu to Port Bell, Port Bell to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), DRC to the Central African Republic, and then to Cameroon and back to Lagos.
The AU Special envoy observed that this was a sure way of promoting intra-Africa trade noting that currently Africa to Africa trade is less than 15 percent when Europe to Europe and Asia to Asia trade stands at 70 percent and 56 percent respectively.
“Kisumu has the biggest dry dock inland in the entire African continent. All the ships that used to ply here including SS Usoga, SS Nyanza, MV Victoria and MV Uhuru among others were all manufactured here in one of the biggest workshops,” Odinga added.
The dredging and the removal of the water hyacinth are part of the great transformation of the lake-related activities which include the construction of the new Port as well as the rehabilitation of the related infrastructure.
The works will also be carried out in Muhuru Bay, Kendu Bay, Asembo Bay, Karungu, Sori, Port Victoria and Sio Port.
For any feedback, contacts us via editorial@feaffa.com / info@feaffa.com; Mobile: +254703971679 / +252733780240
