Inside Shimoni Fishing Port, a Ksh20 billion enterprise
Inside Shimoni Fishing Port, a Ksh20 billion enterprise
Inside Shimoni Fishing Port, a Ksh20 billion enterprise
The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and an intergovernmental delegation visited the construction site to evaluate the project’s progress after President William Ruto issued an order to hasten the building of Shimoni Fishing Port.Shimoni Port, in Kwale County, is the first fishing port in the nation and is expected to considerably increase Kenya’s blue economy.
According to a KPA statement, the port, whose development is anticipated to cost Ksh20 billion, is already 38% complete.Construction on the facility was supposed to commence in 2017 under previous President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration, but it didn’t until this year when the first phase of the project was implemented.
In part, the KPA statement read, “The fish port will boost the fish industry in the country and enhance value addition, through processing for local & exports market.”The industrial fishing port has received Ksh2.5 billion so far, with additional funding expected as the project moves forward.
Shimoni port will have a modern jetty of 75 by 30 meters, a causeway measuring 135 meters and 7 meters, a warehouse for a fish processing plant, cold storage, and an ice-making facility after it is finished.Additionally, it will have a market hall, a water storage tank, a public goods warehouse, a biodigester, and a wastewater treatment facility.A further projection for the port’s output capacity is 50,000 metric tonnes.Phase one of the project was initially scheduled to be finished in two years, or by 2025. But in July of this year, President Ruto gave KPA the go-ahead to speed up the completion process by a year.
During his trip of Kwale County in July, the President stated, “I want the KPA chairman Benjamin Tayari to make sure the fish port is finished by June 2024 and I will come here to open it.”The head of state stressed that his main objective was to increase Kenya’s blue economy’s output capacity from Ksh15 billion to Ksh100 billion.
