Standard gauge railway is seen as the lasting solution for the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) to ease container congestion at the port of Mombasa.

Danson Mungatana, KPA chairman says, “The new railway will come in handy as the container capacity at the port is expanded from 900,000 containers to 2.1 million by 2016.”

“The construction of the second container terminal with a capacity of 1.2 million containers is expected to be completed in 2016.”

“Currently 95 per cent of the containers at the port are transported by road with at least 20,000 trucks transport cargo from Mombasa through the Northern Corridor daily.”

“Cargo ferried by rail from the port had dropped from 30 per cent to five per cent in the last 20 years and unless the railway line is put in place in good time, the port will face extreme container congestion as it would be difficult for the 2.1 million containers to be transported by road.

“The KPA management fully supports the standard gauge railway project as it is the future solution to container congestion at the port. Without efficient transport, the port and our roads would be thrown into crisis.”

Source: Kenyan Business Daily