I typed a response yesterday like immediately on this JF app, then when i tried to edit it mysteriously deleted it. Only noticed this morning.
Anyways, we should approach this thing with our thinking caps on. The purpose of any dry port is to decongest the sea port. If you've ever been to Kilindini, you will realise that the sheer level of buffoonery and ineptitude along with lackadaisical attitude by some customs agents (some looking for you know what if you want your goods cleared upesi haraka) , is nowhere near the much talked about improvements in service delivery. They are also very resistant to the automation and computerisation of services. All this leads to massive pile ups. The cost of petty corruption is higher than you think, spare a thought for the end user who has to pay for it.
The location of Naivasha doesnt make sense at all. Nakuru perhaps,but not Naivasha. The dry port makes sense when its near its customer bases, hence Nairobi would be an automatic shoo in choice. In fact, considering that the vast number of importers of goods are from Nairobi would make it an automatic choice. I wouldnt want to drive to Naivasha every time my consignment arrives, makes no sense, i would just be further damaging the roads. Nakuru should have a smaller one too to serve the portion of populated kenya with significant number of entities engaged in import/export businesses, so it should serve akina eldoret,kericho,narok,and elsewhere within the former Rift valley.
And finally a series of smaller ones at Kisumu, Busia, and Malaba. The locations at Busia and Malaba should be self evident: to serve the hinterland countries. The kisumu one should also be developed as soon as a serious upgrade of the port comes into play. It will serve Uganda mighty efficiently. A serious transport boat can cruise Kisumu - Kampala in 2 hours, a passenger boat in even less. Once the govt sees the importance of water transport, kisumu will boom because transpirtation hubs across the world are always boom cities- Dubai, panama city, Frankfurt am Main..I have seen documents and studies/feasibility reports on the water transport sector in kenya and it makes for sad reading. But, then si we know, a humble report can always be taken and twisted till a political angle is evident, so unless i hear what the Nasa guys are criticising , and consider their claims within the framework of some of those reports, then i reserve my comment.
And when they govt decides to make the serious modernisation of transport sector as glamorous as say,LAPPSET or SGR, then we are going to be stuck with the ridiculous situation where a container takes longer to travel from Mombasa port to Nairobi(i have been told its > 3 weeks in one horror story), than from the port of Osaka/Yokohama (about 10 days, give or take 2).
That kind of info is normally locked up safely in The min of transport archives, out or reach of any random wafula or otieno. Legislators dont debate infrastructure and its relative benefits b4 govt commits, they stick to crude party pisitions.Thanks, nicely put especially that of making Nairobi traders pursue their cargoes in Naivasha, doesn't make sense at all. But Nairobi already has an ICD with capacity of 180 000 TEU per annum and Kafrican intimated about some plan to enhance it to 400,000 TEU.
Anyway, the government should lay bare a document detailing the whole plan so we can all make informed analysis. Or if there is anyone with such, should give us a link to it.
I typed a response yesterday like immediately on this JF app, then when i tried to edit it mysteriously deleted it. Only noticed this morning.
Anyways, we should approach this thing with our thinking caps on. The purpose of any dry port is to decongest the sea port. If you've ever been to Kilindini, you will realise that the sheer level of buffoonery and ineptitude along with lackadaisical attitude by some customs agents (some looking for you know what if you want your goods cleared upesi haraka) , is nowhere near the much talked about improvements in service delivery. They are also very resistant to the automation and computerisation of services. All this leads to massive pile ups. The cost of petty corruption is higher than you think, spare a thought for the end user who has to pay for it.
The location of Naivasha doesnt make sense at all. Nakuru perhaps,but not Naivasha. The dry port makes sense when its near its customer bases, hence Nairobi would be an automatic shoo in choice. In fact, considering that the vast number of importers of goods are from Nairobi would make it an automatic choice. I wouldnt want to drive to Naivasha every time my consignment arrives, makes no sense, i would just be further damaging the roads. Nakuru should have a smaller one too to serve the portion of populated kenya with significant number of entities engaged in import/export businesses, so it should serve akina eldoret,kericho,narok,and elsewhere within the former Rift valley.
And finally a series of smaller ones at Kisumu, Busia, and Malaba. The locations at Busia and Malaba should be self evident: to serve the hinterland countries. The kisumu one should also be developed as soon as a serious upgrade of the port comes into play. It will serve Uganda mighty efficiently. A serious transport boat can cruise Kisumu - Kampala in 2 hours, a passenger boat in even less. Once the govt sees the importance of water transport, kisumu will boom because transpirtation hubs across the world are always boom cities- Dubai, panama city, Frankfurt am Main..I have seen documents and studies/feasibility reports on the water transport sector in kenya and it makes for sad reading. But, then si we know, a humble report can always be taken and twisted till a political angle is evident, so unless i hear what the Nasa guys are criticising , and consider their claims within the framework of some of those reports, then i reserve my comment.
And when they govt decides to make the serious modernisation of transport sector as glamorous as say,LAPPSET or SGR, then we are going to be stuck with the ridiculous situation where a container takes longer to travel from Mombasa port to Nairobi(i have been told its > 3 weeks in one horror story), than from the port of Osaka/Yokohama (about 10 days, give or take 2).
Hehehe so true.That kind of info is normally locked up safely in The min of transport archives, out or reach of any random wafula or otieno. Legislators dont debate infrastructure and its relative benefits b4 govt commits, they stick to crude party pisitions.
This will be the most scenic road in this region, why liethe bypass crosses the SGR at this point
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Naona nyumba ya tope haha wakenya bana ni jokes