The expansion for the facility on 7.5 -acre land which was to be acquired at cost of Sh600 million before June was supposed to start in December.
However, land owners have sharply increased the prices of land around the ICD in Embakasi, hampering the expansion plan.
Surging prices of land around the inland container depot (ICD) in Embakasi could delay the planned expansion of the Sh22 billion facility, the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has said.
The expansion for the facility on 7.5 -acre land which was to be acquired at cost of Sh600 million before June was supposed to start in December.
However, KPA told Shipping and Logistics that land owners around ICD have sharply increased the prices of land around the ICD in Embakasi, hampering the expansion plan.
“There have been plans to acquire 7.5 acres piece of land around this facility to the tune of Sh600million for expansion process. Unfortunately, land owners have deliberately decided to charge us exorbitant prices which may end up delaying our plans,” said PKA managing director Catherine Muturi in an interview Friday. He did not however give figures on how much the prices have shot up.
KPA’s former general manager for engineering service Joseph Atonga said in February that they would be acquiring the land before June.
The project is aimed at adding more capacity on the Sh22 billion facility in readiness for bigger capacity as cargo volumes at ICD grow.
Mr Atonga had noted that the current market price of land around Embaskasi was about Sh80 million per acre, but would negotiate with the owners to reduce it.
It therefore appears negotiations have have not borne any fruit as the land owners are now charging inflated prices to cash in on the KPA project. “This people have deliberately increased land prices. I think it’s deliberate,” said Ms Muturi.
The ICD can handle 450,000 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) per year, up from its original design of 180,000 TEUs annually.
It is currently receiving four trains daily carrying 108 containers each, ferrying a total of 432 container units daily to ICD since April 1.
There are plans to increase the trains to five from May 1 and subsequently to six in June and to 12 by December.
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