The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) plans to build an industrial fishing port at Shimoni. The authority is studying four possible sites at which to build a 150-meter-long (500-foot) jetty, and a 4,000-square-meter (43,000-square-foot) cold storage facility. The project will be funded by the government to the tune of $200 million and the contract has been awarded to China Communications Construction Company. The KPA says the port will provide opportunities for “large scale exploitation of the fish industry bolstered by a ready market and value addition which will spur the creation of special economic zones.”
To ensure large purse seiners and trawlers can use the port, parts of the channel will have to be dredged, according to the environmental impact assessment carried out by Envasses Environmental Consultants Limited, a Kenyan company. The EIA concedes that the dredging will potentially impact community conservation areas known as tengefu, meaning “set aside” in Kiswahili.
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Kenya port and ship-breaking projects threaten livelihoods and environment
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