Dredging360.com

A multi-million shilling dredging machine unveiled as part of the ongoing Kisumu port expansion is lying idle, seven months after it was commissioned by ODM leader Raila Odinga.

The de-silting exercise is set to cost Sh500 million out of the Sh3 billion allocated for the port upgrade.
The 70-metre long and 4,000-tonne dredger was leased from a Uganda-based Chinese firm – The Mango Tree Group – to desilt the port.
The port was to be opened last Thursday but the event was postponed at the eleventh hour, with sources attributing it to a clash in the diaries of the other East African Heads of State who were expected at the launch.

President Uhuru Kenyatta was expected to lead six other presidents during the official launch of the project, which for decades has been lying idle.
The Standard learnt that the dredger cannot be put to use because of a delay in signing a substantive agreement with the Government.
Shipping experts say the Kisumu port, currently undergoing a Sh3 billion expansion, is heavily silted, and may not be ready to accommodate cargo and passenger ferries until it is dredged.
Dredging is an excavation activity usually carried out underwater to remove sand, silt, mud, rocks, weeds and rubbish among others to create routes for big vessels.
The Mango Tree Group investors were also to ship in water hyacinth harvesters to help remove or harvest the noxious weed.

But The Standard has established that although the refurbishment of the port to pave way for grand opening is almost complete, dredging work has not started.
A source at the Kenya Ports Authority, who requested not to be named because he is not authorised to discuss ongoing works at the port, said the delay in signing the contract could be because the dredger was brought in before some discussions were concluded.
"I think it may have been brought in a hurry but it is being addressed," said the official.
Mango Tree Managing Director Shu Chu Fan confirmed they were yet to start work because they were still pursuing an official contract with the Government.
The dredging vessel is now docked at Kisumu Port's landing site along the Lake Victoria shore.

In an earlier interview during the unveiling of the dredger, John Wanga, head of inland waterways at KPA, said they were expecting the Mango Tree investors to dredge up to six metres and also cover 63 kilometres of the lake.
Over the past two decades, it has not been possible for large vessels or ships to dock at the Kisumu port because the berthing bay was too shallow for navigation.
This is why Nyanza leaders were keen on dredging the lake with a trailing suction hopper dredge, which was brought to Kisumu Port and launched by Raila seven months ago.
Wanga had told Raila that dredging would open up Mbita pier, Homa Bay pier, Asembo Bay and Mfangano pier, and Sio Port as well.
Sources at Transport ministry confided to us that Kenya Navy personnel were doing a survey to establish the extent to which the lake needs to be dredged.

A dredging machine that was commissioned by African Union Infrastructure Development Envoy Raila Odinga at the Kisumu Port is yet to begin operations, over seven months later.

The machine was to be used to desilt Kisumu Port, which cannot accommodate cargo and passenger ferries in its current state, even after the ongoing renovations.

And while the exercise which also includes removing stones is set to cost the government Sh500 million, the dredger remains idle owing to an unsigned agreement between the government and the Uganda-based Chinese firm Mango Tree Group.

The same was on Tuesday confirmed by Mango Tree Group Managing Director Shu Chu Fan who said they are yet to sign an official contract with the state.

However, a Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) official said the issue is being addressed.

"I think it may have been brought in a hurry but it is being addressed," the official told the Standard.

The port which has been renovated at a cost of Sh3 billion was expected to be launched last Thursday, in a function that was to see President Uhuru Kenyatta lead a delegation of regional presidents for the launch.

However, the commissioning was postponed on the eleventh hour owing to incomplete works.