EOI for feasibility study on dry port in Dar, Tanzania

The Tanzania Ports Authority has floated an EOI, expression of interest, for a feasibility study on the development of  a dry port at Kisarawe. The consultancy’s objective is to determine the viability of developing the dry port under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

This is a multi-discipline consultancy whose deliverables include; economic and financial analyses, environmental and social impact assessments and detailed engineering designs and cost-estimates.

According to an advertisement in PPP infra world, the scope of the services will include but not limited to the following activities:

i) To conduct a comprehensive land use survey (Cadastral survey in Kisarawe District

ii) To conduct a detailed feasibility study that examines the economic, financial and technical rationale for developing a Cargo Freight station in Kisarawe District

iii) To prepare viable outline designs for the dry port, road and rail accesses and provide all Front – end Engineering and Design, cost estimates and drawings

iv) To conduct a preliminary EIA and Social Impact Assessment and develop mitigation measures

v) To identify and analyze potential risks, impacts the likelihood of occurrence and the possible mitigation measures for the recommended PPP options.

A pre-feasibility has concluded that Kisarawe district, to the South West of the port of Dar-Es-Salaam is an ideal location of the dry port. The dry port is expected to ease congestion at the port of Dar-Es-salaam, the largest port inn Tanzania. 

The port of ar-Es-salaam  has a capacity of 4.1 Million tons of dry cargo and 6 million tons of bulk cargo a year.  However, it has come under increased pressure due to increase in demand for imports in Tanzania and also in the neighbouring land locked countries. The dry port will handle bulk cargo and cars landed at the Port.   


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Turkana zooms into limelight-and riches

THE ONCE GOD FORSAKEN  Turkana country is emerging from the debris into an international limelight for all the good reasons.

Initially famous for famine and cattle rustling, Turkana will soon be bustling in Glory and riches. The county will soon become Kenya’s saviour-at least in terms of energy. Oil has been found in the county. That discovery has excited this country. And some ambitious people, hoping to become oil sheikhs are considering ditching Kenyan cities for Turkana. I hear some  are considering trading their posh SUVs for the Carmel. So I expect the price of Carmel to rise tenfold-again putting the pastoralists at a disadvantage.

 Even before the discovery of the black gold, Turkana was putting its name on the world Map.  Africa’s largest wind power farm that shall generate, 300MW of cheap electricity was being planned. If the financial deal closed today, today being the last day of March, then   construction would begin soon thereafter. That mean Africa’s largest source of cheap power will compete for space with the world’s most expensive source of energy in the same county. What an irony!

The greatest beneficiary of this competition is the proposed Lake Turkana resort city. This is a must because the mandarins and oil sheikhs will need a place to rest their tired bones at the end of a long day. 

The Turkana themselves will gain big. I have seen a document in which one investor is required to supply local communities with clean drinking water, health and education facilities over and roads over the next 20 years. Now let’s face it,  investor in Turkana will be required to provide social- infrastructure as part of their CSR, then in the next 20 years, Turkana county will over supplied.

Just fancy that, a country with more toilets or schools and health centres than it requires. Apart from exporting oil and wind power to Kenya and the rest of the world, Turkana county will also be exporting educational, medical services to the neighbouhood which includes parts of South Sudan and Eastern Uganda.  

 Turkana is quite advantaged. It is bang on the Lamu Transport corridor which means soon, major trunk roads, Standard Gauge Railway line running high speed trains, an Oil Pipeline  from Uganda, South Sudan and of course Kenya. What does the word marginal areas mean? Turkana county, stand tall your time has come!

Mombasa 's water sector crying for investment

During my shot hop to Mombasa last week, I confronted a problem that confronts every resident of the city- dry taps. So to freshen up, I bought a 1.5 litre bottle of bottled water and did some dry bathing.

I wonder how many of you convert significant quantities of drinking water for bathing. 

Back to my experience, so I used 1.5 litres of bottled water to freshen up. Now Mombasa last week was quite hot-and so was Nairobi. Therefore one really needed quite a dip to freshen up.

So I did something similar to a bath and rushed to my appointment. At the tail end of the appointment I mentioned to my host how scarcity water is a serious issue in Mombasa. That comment opened the taps to the following story. My host, a relatively well informed Mombasan, said:

“Demand for water in Mombasa is 18 million litres a day. Currently, its capacity is only 5 million litres a day, which is less than a third of the total demand. To make matter worse, even this quantity never reaches the town.”

Much of the water distribution system to Mombasa is old and rotten. This means that even this little quantity of water also gets lost on the way due to leakages. In Effect, about three or four million litres of water reach Mombasa every day. That is a drop in the ocean.

My source continued. It is not all gloom for the city. The old system is now being replaced so that even the little quantity produced reaches the consumers. After that the authorities will have to work on expanding the supply to meet demand. That, my host said, is the reason why there is a major shortage of water in the city. The old pipes are being ripped off and being replaced with new ones.

My efforts to raise the coast water Authority for comment were fruitless. However, this is a business opportunity crying for investors. Mombasa is crying for a PPP in the water and sewerage sector. Any takers out there? see http://eaers.blogspot.com/2012/03/Africa-high-return-ppp-market-of.html

The night Bus to Mombasa

After penning the piece on Lamu port ,I was send on an urgent assignment to Mombasa. I took the night bus. In fact, the 11o'clock bus, which is  the last bus from Nairobi.


As I watched the night pass-by I  noticed that a majority of the towns along this highway, from Mlolongo to Mazeras operate 24 hours. I noted road side Kiosks and vendors selling  fruits, vegetables, snacks and candies.


 Boda boda men were on hand waiting for any willing customer; Restaurants were up selling their stuff. In most of the towns, especially from Mtito Andei to Salama I counted not less than 50 long -haul trucks parked. That is business to the local economy folks.


As the night wore thin and day began to break, we approached Mombasa and the towns from Taru all the way to Mazera were a bee-hive of activity.


Since the thoughts of what could be in store for lamu were still fresh in my mind,I began to ask: Is this what is in store for  lamu and the long stretch of arid land to Moyale and beyond? 


The opening of Lamu Port is not just good news for Ethiopia and south Sudan. But even the folks along its route will gain immensely. Soon we shall find the entire route open 24 hour a day. No wonder the port, it is said, will generate an additional three percent to Kenya's Gross domestic Product, GDP. The Port will also gain  in status when it links with the Mombasa-Addis  road at Isiolo.  see http://eaers.blogspot.com/2012/02/road-that-open-950million-volume-of.html

Lamu Port's Construction begins Friday

 Kenya’s town of Lamu will this Friday March 2, 2012 be thrown into a lime light of gargantuan proportions. It will play host to three presidents in an event that will change Lamu forever.

The three Presidents will be there for the ground breaking ceremony to mark the beginning on the construction of Lamu Port. The second seaport in Kenya, Lamu is also the head port in the Lamu-South Sudan Ethiopia transport Corridor.

Consequently the presidents of South Sudan, Salva Kiir and Ethiopian PM, Meles Zenawi will witness the groundbreaking ceremony by the Kenya President, Mwai Kibaki.   The Kenya government is said to have set aside US$2.5 billion for the construction of 3 of the 32 bays. Seehttp://eaers.blogspot.com/2012/02/kenya-to-begin-construction-of-gateway.html

South Sudan plans to build a US$4 billion Oil Pipeline from its wells 2000 KM away to Lamu Port. Ethiopia is also looking at Lamu as the shortest export route for her. What’s more the construction of the port could motivate the construction of the trans-Africa Railway line between Lamu in the Indian Ocean coast and Port of Doula in Cameroon on the Atlantic Ocean.

The visit is therefore a significant one for a town only known for cultural tourism and donkey racing during Maulid celebrations. Lamu is not just another seaport. It is a series of projects linking Africa to the world. Not only that, it will also open Kenya’s God forsaken Northern frontier for economic exploitation. Africa had better sit up and take 

Kenya rated second best investment destination in Africa

Kenya has been rated top frontier investment market in Africa, second only to Nigeria, in a survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU.

The survey sampled 158 international fund managers and investment bankers. Of these 76 (48%) rated Kenya as offering the best prospects for institutional investors over the next five years.

The other 81 (52%) said Nigeria was better. The survey is set to generate renewed international investor interest in the stock market, stemming the sell tide sparked off by the Crisis in Eurozone. The market capitalisation has shed off 28 per cent so far.

The survey showed a shift to long-term investment strategies from more speculative and short-term bets. A third of the respondents said they will invest at least five per cent of their portfolio in Africa. This new finding is in sync with our earlier report that said Africa is the next best investment destination. See http://eaers.blogspot.com/2012/01/africa-next-big-investment-story.html

 This comes as good news for Kenya that is now seeking a huge pile of cash to build infrastructure. The country needs more than US $44 billion in the next five- to -eight years to build new ports, roads and railways and to improve water and electricity supply.http://eaers.blogspot.com/2011/12/kenya-rearing-to-become-ppp-playing.html

 To sweeten the deal, Kenya will next month table for debate in Parliament a PPP, said Joseph Kinyua, permanent secretary at the Treasury. The bill will clarify the legal basis for Public-private partnerships, PPPs, and streamline the contracts.

Kinyua told a meeting of government departments and private sector representatives that the Treasury would raise some funds for these projects from the private sector.

"It is currently estimated that there is a funding gap of approximately $44 billion that is needed to address the infrastructure requirements in the next five to eight years," he said.

"The PPP (Public-Private Partnership) arrangements, therefore, offer an opportunity for Kenya to attract enhanced private sector participation in financing, building and operating infrastructure services and facilities in order to close this huge funding gap."

Kenya’s development Blue-Print - the Vision 2030 - forecasts the economy to grow by 10 percent a year by 2030. The government project that the country will become a middle-income country by 2030. Infrastructure development is the driver of this ambitious plan.

In its 2011/12 (July-June) fiscal budget, the government proposed to raise 35.85 billion shillings ($432.7 million) in infrastructure bonds, up from 30.5 billion shillings the previous year.

The government is also in the process of getting a $600 million two-year syndicated international loan to finance infrastructure development. 

A large Commercial bank? Hop over to Rwanda

Rwanda is looking to license large commercial banks that have the financial muscle to bankroll large investment projects in the east African country. 


A good economic c performer, Rwanda's economic growth is project at 7.6 percent this year. The Governor of the central bank Governor Claver Gatete  told the press in Nairobi  that his country is eyeing banks with the financial muscle to lend Upto US$100million.


Rwanda boast of  nine commercial banks and hundreds of microfinance institutions. However, it wants  banks that can underwrite the country's economic development .


The banking industry in Rwanda was healthy, Gatete said, with the capital adequacy ratio standing at at 27 percent last year, against a statutory requirement of 15 percent. generally the operating environment is suitable.


Last year, Bank of Kigali, one of the largest banks in rwanda listed at the local Bourse. Kenya commercisl bank, one of the largest bank in kenya, was the first to list at the Kigali securities exchnage tw years ago. Now Equitybank another large Kenyan bank has been lisenced to operate in Rwanda


Gatete also said Rwanda plans to reduce loan defaults in the industry to 5 percent of total loans in the medium-term, and cut non-performing loans in the industry to under 7 percent this year from 8 percent, to ensure the sector's continued health.


Total outstanding credit by banks in the country stood at 509 billion Rwandan francs ($847 million) at the end of last year, he said.


Gatete said the main risks facing the country's projected growth of 7.6 percent this year - from a forecast 8.8 percent in 2011 - stemmed from the euro zone debt crisis.


"It all depends on external shocks. We don't know what is happening in the euro zone which is one of our big trading partner," he said.


"We don't know what factors will drive oil prices. It also depends on whether the famine in the Horn of Africa will persist."


The projected growth for this year will be driven by the agricultural sector, tourism and exports, which grew by 53 percent last year to almost $400 million, Gatete said.


"We expect significant growth this year now that the government is making it a priority to support the export market," he said.


Year-on-year inflation is projected to stay below 7.5 percent this year after hitting a high of 8.3 percent in 2011.


Gatete said the franc's exchange rate would be stable to the dollar with market forces determining the rate.


"For us, we intervene when there is any kind of shock ... we have sufficient reserves," he said, adding the central bank holds forex worth 7.7 months of import cover, way above the stautory four months.