Kenya Ports Authorityis preparing to tender for the proposed Sh12.1 billion Kipevu Oil Terminal relocation project in Mombasa, managing director Catherine Mturi-Wairi has said.
This moves the authority closer to selecting a firm which will oversee construction of the new terminal.
“Detailed designs are already in place, prequalification process has been completed and a consultant is preparing a tender document for shortlisted bidders,” Mturi told port stakeholders in Nairobi on Thursday.
KPA has shortlisted 12 international firms picked out of 31 for the project, whith many Chinese firms eyeing the lucrative deal at the Japan-funded port.
The 12 were from more than 15 countries that submitted the initial bids for the project advertised on March 23.
The shortlisted companies for the planned project are China Gezhouuba Group, Sinopec International Petroleum Service Corporation, Boskalis Dredging & Marine Experts, CPECC & Power China JV, China CAMC Engineering and Besix and CMR & Van Oord.
Others are China Railway Construction Corporation, China State Construction Engineering Corporation, Saipem Afcons Infrastructures, Jan De Nul, China Communications Construction Company and Dredging International.
KPA opened the pre-qualification tender for the terminal’s construction works on May 17, where no local firm qualified.
“Local firms did not qualify because they lack the expertise,” KPA head of procurement and supplies Yobesh Oyaro told the Star in a separate interview.
The tender is likely to be awarded by the end of the year for the construction to begin early next year. Construction will take about 30 months.
KPA plans to move the 50-year old Kipevu Terminal to a new site on the southern side of the port, opposite the current container terminal, a project that will expand the country’s oil handling and storage capacity by almost 400 per cent.
“The project will involve the decommissioning of the existing Kipevu Oil Terminal and the construction of an off-shore jetty near Dongo Kundu,” Mturi said.
She said the new terminal will have the capacity to berth four ships of up to 100,000 deadweight tonnage, “in contrast to the current maximum of one vessel of not more than 80,000 tonnes”
“This project,together, with the expansion of the pipeline capacity between Mombasa and Eldoret will enhance efficiency in the sector and generally reduce costs both locally and in the region,” she said.
Decommissioning of the existing KOT will create room for the construction of phase two of the second container terminal.
(+ )The new KOT will have both subsea and land-based pipelines connecting it to the storage facilities in Kipevu, and the capacity to handle five different fuel products. These are crude oil, heavy fuel oil and three types of white oil products (DPK-aviation fuel, AGO-Diesel and PMS-Petrol). Danish engineering firm Niras was in 2014 tasked with designing the new facility at a cost of Sh171 million.