Old ferries at Likoni channel to be rehabilitated at a cost of Sh800m

Old ferries will be rehabilitated for Sh800 million to serve the Likoni channel.

Transport Principal Secretary Nyakera Irungu said this aboard the MV Harambee when it was officially launched on Wednesday. It was renovated at a cost Sh143 million.

“In this financial year, we have put aside Sh100 million for security,” he said.

Mr Irungu said an additional Sh400 million will be used to guarantee safe passage across the channel for people and cargo.

The PS said that they recently visited Turkey and the builders of new ferries assured them they would arrive by June 2017.

The Sh1.9 billion ferries can carry 1,500 passengers with seating areas for the elderly, the disabled and pregnant women.

Mr Irungu said Mtongwe channel services should resume before Christmas.

The PS added that the upgrading of Mombasa’s Moi International Airport will ensure bigger and more planes land there, creating more jobs.

He said the Transport ministry has also started compensating land owners so that they can expand the Malindi Airport for direct flights from Europe.

The Kenya Ferry Services (KFS) board chairman Ramadhan Kajembe appealed to the Mombasa County government to give them grants for use in improving services at the channel.

“We need more grants to improve the services and we expect the county government to come to our aid,” he said.

KFS Managing Director Bakari Gowa said Likoni and South Coast residents will be served well by the new ferry.