Ferries now closer to Kenyan shores

The arrival of Mombasa’s two new ferries seems closer with their loading on Wednesday onto a Kenya-bound ship.

Transport assistant minister Haroun Mwau said the sea voyage from Germany would take four weeks.

The vessels, mv Likoni and mv Kwale, were bought from a German supplier, Schiffs-und Yachtwerft Dresden, at an initial cost of Sh900 million before the price shot up to Sh1.3 billion following the amendment of one of the vessels from 48 metres to 60 metres to make it equal in size to the second one.

The change in price is just one of the controversies that has surrounded the purchasing of the vessels as the arrival date kept on changing from December 2008 to June 2009, when they were termed to be 90 per cent complete, thereby postponing the date further to December and every next month thereafter. The tender was first awarded in 2004.

Efforts to get a comment from the Kenya Ferry Services (KFS) management through their corporate affairs manager Elizabeth Wachira, newly-appointed managing director Hamisi Juma and KFS board chairman Joseph Kingi to confirm the coming of the vessels were unsuccessful as the three were engaged in a meeting.

Transport permanent secretary Cyrus Njiru said that members of the parliamentary committee that was said to have gone to Germany to inspect the vessels prior to their shipment, did not go but the KFS board directors went.