The World Bank could be headed for a fresh row with Mombasa port stakeholders for allegedly not consulting them in a recent report on how to improve efficiency at the facility.
Stakeholders now claim that the report is skewed in favour of the bank and is meant to push its agenda, especially through the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the bank’s lending arm.
Kenya Shippers Council (KSC) chief executive officer Gilbert Langat said although the highlights of the report are good and correct, the recommendations do not represent the interests of all players. He added lack of consultation by the bank is not unusual but its recommendations are already inclined towards its own interests.
The report, Kenya Economic Update; Running on one Engine: Kenya uneven economic performance with a special focus on the port of Mombasa rated it the most important East Africa’s infrastructure. It emphasises the need to convert it into a landlord one, where cargo handling operations will be carried out by private players.
But Kenya Transport Association (KTA) secretary Paul Maiyo said that although the World Bank report findings highlighted key changes needed at the port to improve efficiency, there were no consultations.
Similar sentiments were expressed by the Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association (Kifwa) with its national chairman Peter Mambembe claiming that the bank only consulted foreign multi-nationals with vested interests in Kenya.
The bank also dismisses the port’s 2004 master plan which was revised last year for not “effectively looking at the complementary hard and soft infrastructure needed to transform Mombasa into a world class port.”
The plan cites concessioning of berths 11 to 14 as a short term measure to create more container handling capacity although the project was thrown into confusion when dockworkers protested saying that they were not consulted.