Contract bidding for dredging East Africa's big Port of Mombasa has entered its final stage with work expected to commence in the second half of this year, reports Kenya's Business Daily.
The Mombasa channel will to be dredged to 15 metres from 10, and its turning basin widened to accommodate 45,000-tonne ships. The port has been grappling with serious capacity problems as import volumes increased with steady regional economic growth.
The Kenyan treasury department has earmarked KES550 million (US$8.7 million) to finance dredging that should take two years. Delays have been caused by earlier attempts by Nairobi to single source the contractor.
The contract was to be awarded to Jan Denul, a Belgian firm that was said to have secured EUR8 million (US$11.7 million) from the Belgian government to finance the project. But the plan faced opposition from other interest parties who argued that competitive bidding would land Kenya a better deal.
Three firms, Belgium's Dredging International and Holland's Boskalis and Vanorb have since joined the bidding.
The Mombasa channel will to be dredged to 15 metres from 10, and its turning basin widened to accommodate 45,000-tonne ships. The port has been grappling with serious capacity problems as import volumes increased with steady regional economic growth.
The Kenyan treasury department has earmarked KES550 million (US$8.7 million) to finance dredging that should take two years. Delays have been caused by earlier attempts by Nairobi to single source the contractor.
The contract was to be awarded to Jan Denul, a Belgian firm that was said to have secured EUR8 million (US$11.7 million) from the Belgian government to finance the project. But the plan faced opposition from other interest parties who argued that competitive bidding would land Kenya a better deal.
Three firms, Belgium's Dredging International and Holland's Boskalis and Vanorb have since joined the bidding.