Mombasa cruise ship terminal to delay for two months

The construction of the Sh350 million world-class cruise ship terminal at the Port of Mombasa that was initially set to be completed in August this year has been pushed to November.

The terminal which is being constructed at the Port of Mombasa is currently 40 per cent complete.

Last year December, Tourism and Wildlife Secretary Najib Balala, HAD said August was the completion of the terminal in time for the cruise season in November.

But on Thursday last week during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s inspection of the ongoing construction of the facility, Mr Balala said the terminal will be fully operational by November this year.

“The terminal is currently 40 per cent complete and will further boost cruise tourism in the country when it is fully operational by November this year,” Mr Balala said.

The works on cruise terminal, which began in December 2016, was expected to be completed in August 2017, but was pushed to 2018 then later this year due to “unavoidable circumstances”.

In 2017, Mr Balala blamed contractor for the delays.

“I am disappointed and this is not acceptable, because the schedule was supposed to be August 2017 it did not take place. It was moved to November and then I am told it is being moved to August (2018),” Mr Balala said in 2017.

The terminal is being constructed with a Sh250 million funding from KPA and Sh100 million from Trade Mark East Africa.

In February, Kenya lost about 2,000 tourists when two cruise ships destined for the Port of Mombasa were redirected to other destinations following a security alert by the US government.