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Coast Tourist Bookings Looking Up

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COAST TOURISM ON THE RISE

Tourist bookings from Europe are beginning to recover following the lifting of travel advisories by the UK government two weeks ago.

According to hoteliers at the Coast, British tourists have been making enquiries on reservations after their government lifted travel warning issued against Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale.

On Monday, Nyali International Beach Hotel revenue manager Nabeth Mabeya said bookings from the UK market had started to pick up.

He noted that some British tourists had made bookings for the August to October period, with others choosing November and December.

“The lifting of the advisories was a positive move as we have started to record bookings from the UK market,” he said.

Mr Mabeya explained that insurance costs for holidays dropped after the advisories were lifted.

“The tourists who have made reservations appreciate that getting an insurance cover at the moment is inexpensive compared to when the travel ban was in place,” he said.

Mr Mabeya added that more German tourists are expected to visit the country following German holiday airline Condor’s plans to introduce flights from Munich to Mombasa.

He noted that the introduction of the new route will increase Condor’s flights from three to four per week since it already has three flights a week from Frankfurt to Mombasa.

RESUME FLIGHTS

In Diani, Baobab Beach Resort general manager Sylvester Mbandi said the hotel would start receiving Italian tourists from late July.

He added that an Italian chartered airline, Francorosso, is expected to resume flights from Milan to Mombasa beginning July 29.

Mr Mbandi said the hotel also expects to receive tourists from Germany and Britain between November and December.

“We have started to record bookings from Italy, German and Britain, but we expect the tourists to arrive late in the year,” he explained.

The hotelier said Baobab Beach Resort, which had been closed down for renovations in May, reopened on June 23 after international bookings from Europe started to trickle in.

Heritage Hotels chief executive officer Mohamed Hersi said the hotel group had also been receiving enquiries from the UK market after the travel advisory against Mombasa was lifted.

Tour firms Kuoni, Hayes and Jarvis and Somak, he added, have been enquiring about reservations for their clients.

“It was a step in the right direction, as leading tour operators from Europe are now interested in selling Kenya. Although the bookings are sluggish, we expect a rise in January and February next year,” he said.

SECURITY HAS IMPROVED

Mr Hersi, who is also the Kenya Coast Tourist Association chairman, said security had improved significantly in Mombasa Town, on the beaches and at Moi International Airport.

“The Kenya Wildlife Service has intensified patrols on the beaches, making them secure for sun seekers and swimmers,” he said.

Travellers Beach Hotel general manager Freddie Kiuru said the hotel expects repeat guests from Britain to jet in for holidays between August and December this year.

Severin Sea Lodge resident manager James Owiti added that the hotel had started to receive a few tourists from Germany.

He attributed this to support from German tour firms TUI, ITF, Jahn Reisen and Berg & Mere.

Danish Birth App Saves Lives in Africa

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A Danish developed app for mobile phones teaches health workers in developing countries to help children into the world. The app makes the mobile phone into a kind of small handbook with practical information on how birth occurs, and what to do in various emergency situations – for example, if the mother is bleeding, or if the child is not breathing.

The whole thing is based as much as possible on graphics and small instruction animated movies, because the mobile app is supposed to be used especially by health workers in remote areas where education levels are low, and where it is difficult and expensive to reach with traditional training.

Doubles the competences
The Safe Delivery app has been scientifically tested in Ethiopia since 2013, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Copenhagen’s School of Global Health and the University of Southern Denmark, and the first results of the test is now available.

It turns out, the app strengthens the staff at the small health clinics significantly to make the right choices during and after birth. Health workers’ ability to handle a bleeding, and the ability to resuscitate a newborn, more than doubled after 12 months of use of the app. It writes the Danish NGO Maternity Foundation, which is behind the project and has ten years of experience with training health workers in developing countries.

It might seem contradictory that people in the world’s poorest areas can benefit from an app for smartphones. But Maternity Foundation sees great potential in using high-tech solutions in low developed countries:
Birth application

Nailonadege, aged 35, lies with her baby son, Francois Hollande on the maternity ward.

“There are more people in Africa who have a phone than there are people with access to water and sanitation – you talk about a revolution in mobile telephony,” says Anna Frellsen, director of the Maternity Foundation. She emphasizes the need for education is enormous:

“The global inequalities in maternal and child mortality is unacceptable. The tragedy is that we know that most of these lives can be saved with access to trained health workers. Therefore, it is important to exploit the technological possibilities to the limit with solutions such as The Safe Delivery App “.

Is now to be used in several countries
The finished version of the mobile program was officially launched on April 22, 2015 and it will now be made freely available to the health sector and NGOs in developing countries. Maternity Foundation will test and evaluate the app further, while deploying it across Africa. So far, an agreement with the Red Cross in Denmark and maternal health organization Marie Stopes International have been made, which will use the app in their health programs in Guinea and Tanzania.

The development of the app is funded by the initiative MSD for Mothers, The Obel Family Foundation, and through an international crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo (www.indiegogo.com) (caremaker is another international crowdfunding site), which in autumn 2014 brought over 50,000 dollars.

TFDA Shuts Alcohol Brewers in Rombo

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Banana Beer Moshi in Tanzania

Rombo district is in the spotlight for brewing alcohol that is alleged to weaken sexual abilities in men.

Tanzania Food and Drug Authority (TFDA) on Friday closed down seven alcohol producing plants in Rombo District because the drink weakens sexual ability of men and is said to be behind a number of failed marriages in the widely known district of Kilimanjaro Region.

The conditions under which the alcohol, made from banana, is taken widely by low income earners, do not meet professional category because the industries lack laboratories and operate in poor environments. TFDA officials said.

A  TFDA official, Barnabas Jacob, said the seven are among15 inspected industries and found not to meet criteria of producing alcohol.

He said the plants include Komba, Obama, Twiga, Pundamilia, Zebra, Iyembe, Kilimanjaro, Keni, Chuichui, Jogoo and Bingwa.

Drinking alcohol to excess can make good sex go bad.  Food and drug authority officials and alcohol experts affirmed in the district mid this week that “this is because alcohol reduces both men’s and women’s sexual sensitivity.”

“In both sexes, sexual response is reduced by regular and prolonged drinking,” the experts say.

“In men, alcohol can cause difficulties getting and maintaining an erection – while women may experience reduced lubrication, find it harder to have an orgasm, or have orgasms that are less intense,” the TFDA official said.

Many people mistakenly believe that alcohol is an aphrodisiac. However, over time too much alcohol can actually put a dampener on your sex drive, he noted, adding that drinking too much over an extended period of time can turn a temporary condition like ‘Brewer’s Droop’ into full-blown impotence.

Drinking can also cause damage if you are planning to have children. Women in Rombo district had earlier this month complained to have low infertility rates, attributing the agony to excessive drinking among men, according to the media reports.

The experts went on to explain that, women who drink over the lower risk guidelines can take longer to become pregnant and can suffer from menstrual and fertility problems.

Jacob said the plants faced serious legal measures if they did not comply with their instructions and that they will only be allowed to re-open if they followed required procedure.

Along with the stern legal measure, Jacob warned other industries in the region to follow laid down regulations, insisting that failure to do so would attract similar measures.

Felista Shine, wife of one of the owners, promised to make the necessary adjustments before they start business again.

Another owner who also faced the axe, Prosper Shao, said his plant was  closed down last year, but he said he believed that it now meets the TFDA conditions.

Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda early this week ordered his office to take appropriate action against Rombo District Commissioner Lemrise Kipuyo who said women in his area were hiring Kenyan men to satisfy them sexually since their husbands have turned to alcohol.

Pinda was responding to Rombo MP, Joseph Selasini (CHADEMA) who wanted the premier to apologise to Rombo men because they were humiliated by government officials.

We are Stuck with Aids Drugs, says Ugandan NMS boss

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Antiretroviral Drugs HIV Aids

A delegation from Kasese District, which visited National Medical Stores (NMS) in Entebbe, was on Friday shocked to learn that stocks of HIV/Aids drugs were lying idle at NMS after respective districts failed to collect them.

“We are stuck with Antiretroviral drugs. We wonder where patients who had started the ART medicines are. Should we assume that they all died?” said NMS General Manager Moses Kamabare.

He said NMS have discovered that districts request for a lot of medicines during the procurement process but they collect less, leaving a lot of uncollected balance in the national stores.

Mr Kamabare added that NMS’ major challenge is not shortage of drugs but the space to keep them since a lot is ordered but never collected by the respective claimants.
“It can be understandable for other illnesses like malaria for the reduction of cases but not for HIV/Aids patients. We have a toll free line but we have never received any communication for any adjustments in drug supply,” he said.

Mr Kamabare said NMS faces challenges of absenteeism of health workers, theft and diversion of medicines and time of opening and closing the health centres.

“The monitoring of the performance of health workers is solely the responsibility of local governments. But because they have not done their part, health workers use it as a cover to claim that there are no medicines yet they are requisitioned every two months,” he said.
He denied allegations that NMS was dumping unwanted medicines to the health centres. He said they procure as per procurement plan and supply as per orders received.

Mr Kamabare said some administrators of health centres request for medicines that are not relevant to the common ailments in their health centres.

Kasese District health inspector, Mr Ericana Bwambale, who was part of the team, admitted that the health department was to blame for the mess in the health sector in the district.
“I admit that there have been gaps between the procurement process and orders. I have realised that everything is done during procurement plan but when it comes to orders, we do not reconcile the records hence leaving the NMS with either too much to procure or less depending on the situation at hand,” Mr Bwambale said.

He confirmed that some HIV/Aids patients had defaulted on the treatment, leaving ARVs idle in stores. He did not reveal why it was happening.

The team was led by Kasese deputy RDC Mr Aminadabu Muhindo.

However, when this newspaper sought for a comment from the acting Kasee District health officer, Dr Yusuf Baseke, he denied the allegations. He said the district had not had any shortfall of ARVs.

“Who told you that we lack ARVs? For us we order according to the number of patients we have in the district. If the NMS is complaining about the availability of ARVs, they should consult their records and see how much each district requested for and who never took according to the orders made,” he said.

Previous case

In 2013, an announcement was hung at Kilembe Mines Hospital noticeboard calling the Village Health Teams to trace ARV defaulters where more than 1,000 patients had missed their routine medicines.

Grand Return for Hollywood Star Lupita

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Lupita Nyongo in Cannes

Did you want to meet Lupita? Or have dinner with the Oscar Award-winning actress? That will only be Sh10,000 per person or Sh100, 000 for a corporate table for an exclusive event to be held on Thursday, July 2, at the Villa Rosa Kempinski in Nairobi.

The actress, who seemed to give Nairobi and her Kenyan fans the snub, now appears set to make a grand entrance. Lupita  will arrive in Kenya in a week’s time to conduct a homecoming tour that includes activities that aim to uplift the Kenyan arts community as well as raise awareness on elephant conservation efforts in the country.

She will be the chief guest at an exclusive dinner bringing together conservationists, artists as well as the general public for an arts and fashion show by selected Kenyan designers and artists.

Besides her performances on the big screen, the actress is a red-carpet favorite who has been featured on the covers of People, Vogue as well as numerous appearances in some of the world’s most glamorous magazines.

Lupita will be lending her star power to conservation efforts in a radical departure from her glamorous assignments.

STELLAR CAREER

Lupita, whose stellar career began in Kenyan theatre, says she is delighted to be coming home.

“I am delighted to be returning home, especially with the added honour of being able to use this opportunity to help shine a global light on Kenya’s conservancy efforts,” she said.

Lupita began her reign as Hollywood’s new fashion darling when she picked up her Best Supporting Actress award for her tear-jerking performance in 12 Years a Slave.

The actress stunned in a baby-blue Prada gown, whose colour she called “Nairobiblue” that became a  trending subject on Twitter after Lupita enthused, “It’s a blue that reminds me of Nairobi, and so I wanted to have a little bit of home”.

She has consistently topped the best-dressed lists culminating in her proclamation as People magazine’s 2014 most beautiful woman and Glamour magazine’s second best-dressed, ahead of the Duchess of Cambridge and established Hollywood stars.

Her dress of choice to this year’s Oscars – the pearl-encrusted halter neck gown by Calvin Klein – was the subject of controversy when it was allegedly stolen and returned, with the thief claiming that the 6,000 pearls adorning it were fakes.

While Lupita’s red-carpet looks have not reflected her Kenyan roots, her date to the 2014 BAFTA awards was her mother, Dorothy Nyong’o, who wore an outfit by a Kenyan designer.

Lupita’s homecoming tour is being supported by a number of local brands, including Safaricom, Kenya Airways, Simba Colt Motors, African Heritage, Villa Rosa Kempinski and luxury bag manufacturer Lulea. She will partner with WildAid, whose mission is to end the sale of illegal wildlife artefacts such as elephant tusks and rhino horns.

“Our country’s elephants are a critical piece of the heart of Kenya and we need to take action now to save their population from the threats that continue to endanger their existence,” she said in a statement.

WildAid is an organisation that seeks to harness star power to reduce global consumption of wildlife products by persuading consumers and strengthening enforcement unlike most wildlife conservation groups that focus on protecting animals from poaching.

Lupita, who will be in the country starting June 29, will have a busy itinerary that will include an immersive mentorship session with young Kenyan students and artists on June 30 where she will discuss her acting career and provide tips on how to succeed in the arts.

Foreign Experts Think Kenya is in for a Negative Economic Surprise while Shilling Declines

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Shilling and Economic Decline

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Wednesday sold an unspecified amount of dollars directly in the money markets to support the shilling, which had weakened past the 99-units to the greenback.

At some point during trading today, the shilling had weakened to 98.95/99.05 to the dollar before the CBK intervened through sale of dollars directly to the market to stop further slide of the local unit.

The action by the CBK saw the shilling recover to close the day at 98.45/98.55, much stronger than 98.75/98.85-units the local currency closed trading on Tuesday.

The dollar is expected to strengthen globally as the Federal Reserve moves to start raising rates later in the year.

Forex analysts who spoke to Nation however, said the shilling is still vulnerable to the structural challenges in the economy and the exit of foreign investor portfolio from emerging markets due to lower returns to the high-return developed markets currently.

“Currently, there is a global portfolio re-alignment from the emerging markets, which are not doing very well. The portfolio is being re-aligned to the developed markets, which have better returns at the moment,” said a forex dealer at a commercial bank in Nairobi.

CONTINUE DECLINING

Analysts now see the shilling breaking the 100-unit level soon.

“Going forward, we expect the shilling to continue declining but at a much slower rate, breaking the 100-mark,” a forex dealer said.

Kenya’s current account deficit continues to worsen with imports growing at a much faster rate on the back of slowdown in export earnings.

Inflows from key sectors such as tea, coffee and tourism have also slowed down due low prices the commodities are fetching in the global market and the insecurity facing the tourism industry.

But not just that, but there are several signs that companies have problems with cash-flow and profits, as several major companies in sectors as retail stores, production and more have problems paying their suppliers. Some companies that are used to receive their payment within 1 to 3 month now waits 4 to 6 months to receive the payment, announced Kepsa on a resent meeting with foreign investors where they warned against giving credits.
Among other things are part of it a declining real estate market where prices now are falling for several reasons, we have before said the market will fall, and might even collapse with in a short time period. Prices for rentals to expats are already falling as a lot of foreign NGO’s, UN and other are re-posting positions to singles and not families, which now mean that where the society would have an income from whole families, now it is only from singles that uses less money. (No school children, no nanny, no driver, etc.)

Here the market for Tanzania and the growth is still staying high and even growing with a much higher percentage, and we find investors are more willing to invest in Tanzania, while investments in Kenya are on a decline. Investors we have talked with and that are considering to invest in Kenya, Uganda, or Tanzania, prefers Tanzania as country for investment, while Uganda and Kenya are side by side, simply said they say it is easier to get things through in Uganda, but there is less money, while they would rather do Kenya and the bigger market, but the extend of corruption keeps them out as it is to much, as everyone wants money, not just people in high positions but the middle and lower class as well, which makes it extremely hard for investors.
Some investors beleive that if it was not for bribery, Kenya would be much further and richer as a country, even on a higher level than South Africa.

Anticipated further weakening of the shilling comes on the back of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK)’s decision to raise the Central Bank rate (CBR) by 1.5 percentage point to 10 per cent on June 9, to support the local currency from weakening further against the greenback.

President Uhuru Kenyatta is also yet to gazette Dr Patrick Njoroge as the CBK governor, more than a week after members of parliament ratified his nomination to head the banking sector regulator.

NBK Woos NGOs to Grow Deposits

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National Bank of Kenya

The National Bank of Kenya is targeting to grow its balance sheet with large deposits from non-governmental organizations by offering personalized services.

The bank’s chief executive Munir Ahmed said they will offer favorable exchange rates, free internet banking and business club for the sector while targeting the estimated Sh200bn in revenues from donations around the world.

“With over 81 per cent of their funds coming from foreign donations, this firms need special consideration in currency conversion,” NGO Coordination Board chief executive Fazul Mohammed said.

Dubbed ‘Thamani account’, the organizations will get favorable exchange rates, even as the bank grows its foreign exchange income.

The bank’s deposits grew from Sh77 billion in 2013 to 104bn in 2014 with foreign exchange income rising to Sh434mn from Sh309mn.

The sector has attracted controversy with government officials accusing a section of the NGOs for funding terrorism activities. Some have had their bank accounts frozen.

Ministry Seeks Cabinet Action Over Unsafe Buildings in Nairobi

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Collapsed Building in Nairobi

An audit on the safety of buildings in Nairobi will be presented to the Cabinet next week.

The audit by the National Construction Authority (NCA) also covers buildings constructed on watersheds and recommends that they be demolished.

Acting Lands Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said once the audit is submitted to the Cabinet, a plan of action against the illegal structures will be announced and no one is to be spared in the planned demolitions.

In the audit the NCA has been conducting in the past three months, only 42 per cent of buildings were found to be safe to live in. Most, however, need minor adjustments while a few are write-offs.

The secretary of the Buildings Inspectorate of the Lands ministry, Moses Nyakiongora, said construction within five metres of the highest point of a river was considered encroachment into riparian reserves.

“Last week President Uhuru Kenyatta formed a Cabinet subcommittee for Lands and Housing, Interior and the Environment ministry after a building collapsed in Kisumu to curb this problem,” Mr Matiang’i said.

He added that the Cabinet secretaries from the ministries involved would issue a way forward once the NCA report is submitted to the Cabinet.

EIGHT BUILDINGS COLLAPSED

This year alone, eight buildings have collapsed, killing several people and injuring others.
In Nairobi, three buildings have collapsed in recent months in Roysambu, Huruma and Makongeni, leaving 15 people dead and scores injured.

Since 1996 more than 30 buildings have collapsed in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Kiambu, Kisii, Meru and Narok.

The CS said officials who approved building plans on the riparian areas would also face charges.

Bobasi MP Stephen Manoti, whose Sh1 billion business complex on Mbagathi Way being built on a riverbank was stopped, said city county officials had given him a go-ahead.
The NCA also proposes that owners of buildings that have five floors but no lifts be forced to demolish the extra floors or install the service.

Owners of houses with minor defects, such as inadequate ventilation and lighting, have been given a month to fix the problems.

Owners of those classified as high-risk have been given two months to ask their tenants to move out and to demolish the buildings.

Mr Matiang’i, who was speaking at a forum on measures to curb the problem of collapsing buildings, said the government would “not be second-guessed”.

The NCA audit has already covered 1,600 buildings in Huruma, Kariobangi, Umoja, Githurai, Zimmerman and Kahawa West. Two blocks in Roysambu were brought down and several others in Umoja have been earmarked for demolition.

The Buildings Inspectorate urged tenants to look out for cracks and water leakages in their residences and vacate unsafe buildings.

Rwanda Standards Board, PSF feud could cost 500 jobs

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Since April 2014, RBS has been pushing local gin manufacturers, a budding industry of about 10 players, to start packaging their products in glass bottles of volumes ranging from 250ml, 500ml, 750ml and 1,000ml.

The manufacturers currently use plastic bottles (polyethylene terephthalate) in packaging of the gin products mainly consumed by low income earners with the price of the smallest gin bottle costing less than Rwf400.

The standards body claims that the plastic bottles are poisonous, hence pose health risks to consumers. RSB has thus given the manufacturers until next month to have complied.

The claim that plastics are poisonous is contested by the manufacturers, who contend that RSB has no scientific evidence.

Also, at the centre of disagreement are claims by the industry players that RSB failed to involve them in the decision making process as required by law and is only pushing the controversial standard down their throats.

In essence, packaging in glasses means manufacturers have to abandon their current production lines which some producers claim, they allegedly acquired on the advice of RSB authorities, a claim the standards body vehemently denies.

According to RSB director-general Dr Mark Cyubahiro Bagabe, they couldn’t have sanctioned the manufacturers to use plastic packaging well knowing that it poses health risks to consumers.

Nonetheless, the gin makers say they are ready to eat a humble pie and comply with RSB demands on condition that they are given enough time…
Though German and other research results shows there can be serious side effect from using the plastic bottles, they still wants more time though they have already had a lot of time.

A sip from the water bottle sends hormones straight into the throat.
Water, gin and other fluids in plastic bottles appears to contain far more estrogen like substances than water in glass bottles. The effect on snails is very clear, say German researchers who believe that we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg.

Estrogenic substances slides right down the throat with drinking fluids in ordinary plastic bottles. The show trials conducted by researchers at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt.

In their laboratory, the researchers Martin Wagner and Jörg Oehlmann examined 20 different of the most popular types of water bottles from store shelves, including both plastic bottles, glass bottles and tetrapak with plastic coating on the inside.

All plastics in the study were of the type polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and not the plastic type polycarbonate, which is found in, for example, baby bottles and contains the hormone-like substance bisphenol A.

The overall picture of the study showed that the water in plastic bottles had hormone-like effects. The conclusion came researchers with specific hormone sensitive mud nails type Potamopyrgus antipodarum that increases its reproduction hormone exposure.

The snails were placed in the various bottles and in both plastic bottles and tetra packs they produced on average twice as many embryos as in glass bottles.

Researchers: Plastic may be the main source of the hormone contamination.
The researchers have not analyzed for bottles containing certain substances, and the study also provided some results that are still missing explanation. For instance, a plastic bottle showed no sign of hormone levels, while an individual glass bottles showed signs of hormone-like substances.

Nevertheless, the German researchers have no doubt that the study is evidence that hormone-like substances from plastic packaging move into our drinking water and food.

“We have probably only identified the tip of the iceberg compared to the plastic wrapping as it can be a major source of synthetic hormone contamination of our food,” the researchers write in their conclusion.

Antioxidants in the bottle can be the culprit.
The question remains, what triggered the hormone-like effect, and lead author Martin Wagner guess even that there is a mix of different hormone-like substances. He also points to phthalates or other plastic materials that can provide estrogen-like effects or act as stops for the male sex hormones such as testosterone.

Across from Science News points endocrinologist Ana Soto of Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston that the estrogen-like effects can come from antioxidants.

Manufacturers of plastic bottles uses antioxidants in the bottles to make them resistant to sunlight. However, many antioxidants exists as phenolic compounds, and studies show that phenolic compounds to varying degrees can provide estrogen-like effects.

Endocrine disrupters are believed to be the main reason for men’s declining sperm quality, and that more and more boys are born with malformed genitals

Africa Embarks on Massive Expansion of Sea Ports

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Compared to the volumes recorded at the dominating port terminals across the world, Africa’s leading regional port terminals lag way beyond – the Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Djibouti, Djibouti; Durban, South Africa; and Mombasa, Kenya do not appear to be major hubs on the world’s map because they record low capacities in regard to storage, maintenance and dredging capability.

“The steady increase in ship sizes in addition to growing cargo volumes has put pressure on cargo infrastructure and terminal capacities the world over, (and) in particular for African ports which have capacity constraints and poor transport infrastructure connectivity,” Danson Mungatana, the Kenya Ports Authority Chairman told a two-day East Africa Transport Infrastructure Conference held in Nairobi last August. Most African ports are characterized by inadequate infrastructure, poor harbor maintenance and insecurity, which puts African ports out of the list of top world’s seaports.

Capacity constraints

In a US-Africa Infrastructure Conference held in Washington, D.C in October last year by the Corporate Council on Africa, Vivienne Sequeira, the council’s Director of Infrastructure said “most of the ports are at full capacity” and most panelists raised an alarm about long delays at the ports. This situation if not addressed urgently is likely to become worse since according to the African Development Bank, port throughput in Africa will rise from 265 million tonnes in 2009 to more than 2 billion tonnes in 2040, while transport volumes will increase six- to eightfold, with a particularly strong increase of up to 14 times for some landlocked countries.

When you consider that commodities entering Africa from the rest of world come by ship the current port infrastructure’s inadequacy  to meet demand is of great concern and this has spurred African governments to undertake massive seaport terminals, canal and gateway construction projects in response.

Though most shipping port activity is concentrated in Egypt and South Africa, the East and West coasts of Africa do have a number of sea ports but capacity and efficiency is still a major concern in Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Competition for the position of preferred maritime gateway in East Africa has pitted Dar es Salaam Port in Tanzania against the Mombasa port in Kenya. Congestion at the Mombasa Port has at times caused some shippers to go to Dar es Salaam Port which is now unfortunately congested and is not efficient due to clearing issues at the custom. While the  planned Standard Gauge Railway that runs from Kenya to Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi could improve the situation, it is also necessary to have the ports expanded.

In the South of Africa, ports suffer from insufficient storage spaces and long container dwell time according to the Port Management Association of Eastern & Southern Africa (PMAESA), which is a regional grouping of ports in the two regions. PMAESA also adds that the ports continue to experience increased traffic and are not well served by access infrastructure.

Headwinds

Critics warn on a number of issues that must be observed in order to realize expected benefits on expansion of facilities. Of the most damaging would be misplacement of priorities where projects would be undertaken but fail to achieve benefits because other projects would have been better suited instead.  In addition with massive expansion of ports comes the need for government to invest additional funds to develop surrounding infrastructure.

Following massive developments that have come with the new Lekki port in Nigeria for instance experts warn that the government will face environmental problems as a result of population explosion around the area if infrastructure surrounding Lekki port such as roads are not expanded within coming two years. Egypt is also warming for a larger Suez Canal, in a massive expansion drive that will cost the exchequer US$4bn.

Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Senior Staff Association of Communication, Corporation and Transport (SSACCTAC) has warned that deep port construction projects being undertaken across the country could be ‘wasteful ventures and jumbo projects’ and instead said that what the country needed to do was to connect existing ports to railway networks. “We don’t need any other ports, apart from the deep sea port in Lekki, rather, we need to connect the ports to rail systems so that cargo can be evacuated on time,” President of SSASTAC, NPA branch, Comrade Omeiza Jimoh Umar  has said.

Kenya’s own Lamu port project may have its own issues as Tanzania and other countries have initiated similar projects. Competition among countries in regard to port activity is a reality that will dawn and may lead to low activity in some ports in the long run.

Projects such as construction of Bagamoyo Port and the Mtwara port project may not be good news since Tanzania and Kenya through the Mombasa Port have been serving the same landlocked countries. Kenya has been recording lower volumes from Rwanda and Burundi, while Tanzania has been recording improved volumes with time. Despite lower charges at the Mombasa Port, a survey in August last year revealed that expensive rail transport made the overall transportation of goods from Mombasa Port more expensive than transporting goods from Dar Port.

“Tanzania and Kenya are serving the same landlocked countries,” Janeth Ruzangi, manager of corporate communications for the Tanzania Ports Authority has said. “Firms are going to choose to use the facilities that will handle the goods with the most speed. It is natural that we have to work towards improving our port in order to attract these firms.” However, Kenya is seeking to counter the stiff competition by construction of deep berths at the Lamu Port but delays still continue to be a stumbling block.

Kenya’s ports are likely to loose further business from landlocked countries as Rwanda has partnered with Djibouti to facilitate the latter’s use of Port of Djibouti. In March last year, Rwanda was given a 20ha plot at the port in order to develop it, and reports indicate it could also get another 20ha if it develops the first one.

Uganda is also investing US$3b in a Bukasa Port project, an inland port expected to link to Musoma in Tanzania by water and to Port of Tanga by rail. Tanzania is planning to build a railway from Arusha to Musoma in expectation. Tanzania has also unveiled the Mwambani Port and Railway Corridor (Mwaporc) expected to join the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Corridor (Tazara) and Central Corridors in opening up the northern region. It is larger than the envisioned Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset). Mwaporc project has recently received US$27bn by a private firm, Brookwoods Capital.

Delays

Like in other construction projects, delays have hit port expansion activity, and experts have warned that some planned expansions may only become pipe dreams. Completion of the envisioned and massive Lekki port in Nigeria was temporally delayed by funding issues, which has finally pushed the completion date from 2016 to 2018. The financial hurdle has now been overcome according to Nigerian Ports Authority’s (NPA) Chief Finance Officer Mr. Sandeep Parasramka, and this will pave way for construction. Even the complicated funding arrangements involved in these projects might lead to more delays as concessionaires might differ from time to time, like in the case of Lekki Port project.

Port of Walvis Bay in Namibia expansion project also failed to start due to “shareholder consultations” issues, indicating that internal investor issues could also hamper port expansion in Africa. The project, which would involve reclaiming land near the current port and construction of a new container port facility on the land, is yet to commence to date but tenders for related dredging contract were to be submitted by November 24 last year.

Other delays are likely to come from disagreement between stakeholders and related court cases. The Kenya Ports Authority chairman Mr. Danson Mungatana was last year September quoted as saying that the authority could incur massive losses if controversy surrounding identification of landowners for compensation was not ended soon. “Governments that are party to this project signed an agreement with the contractor for the job to start [in September] but this cannot happen because the various government agencies cannot agree on the list of landowners to be compensated,” he said. The project is yet to start off, with politics being at the center of controversy.

Even in Egypt where a project to construct a second canal to increase the capacity of the Suez, the spectre of delay looms both due to time as well as financial constraints. Dredging at the Suez Canal finally kicked off with 50 Egyptian companies expecting to undertake the US$4b project in an year’s time, using 4500 pieces of equipment. However, Haitham Awad, an engineering professor at Alexandria University alleges that costs are likely to skyrocket.

This has been supported by the reports that water was found at the drilling sites within days of starting the project, and this means more financial input and time are necessary to succeed with the dredging. “The cost of drilling underwater will exceed 10 times the cost of drilling in dry lands. The drilling site chosen was 400 meters from the Suez Canal, but it would have been better to choose a site between 8 and 10 kilometers (5 to 6.2 miles) away from the old canal,” Awad said. The project carries this challenge, amidst another one of lack of economic feasibility studies.

Industry experts have warned that the adventure by South Africa’s Transnet Port Terminals’ (TPT) to invest 71% of its US$2.8b planned investment may be a pipe dream and overly optimistic. Port expansion by TPT is expected to open opportunities as a result of growing demand. Zeph Ndlovu, general Manager of KwaZulu-Natal operations at TPT said “The challenge at the moment is to avail capacity before demand rises. We are unlocking that ahead of time.”

TPT owns 16 cargo terminals across the seven ports in the country. Expansion of the port in Durban has already faced opposition from the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance that is alleging negative social and environmental costs related to the project. The large resistance for a project that would lead to sub-Saharan Africa’s largest port is also coming up because it will involve mass displacement of families.

Yes port expansions will come with their benefits however,ther is a need to avoid the pitfalls of misplacement of priorities, delays due to funding, probable harmful competition since neighboring countries were under similar port expansion projects, and internal issues such as proper planning and politics that could deter development.

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