The construction of the sh1.8 billion Kenya Maritime Authority headquarters in Mombasa will be completed by September next year, acting Director General George Macgoye has said.
The construction of that 18-storey building, which started in February last year, was delayed after the contractor encountered “some unforeseen challenges.”
Macgoye said on Friday the land in which the building is being constructed had a lot of corals and also, they had to deal with the challenge of the nearby tenants, whose houses were at the danger of collapsing because of the heavy machines which were digging trenches at the site.
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There were complaints that the nearby houses were forming cracks.
“We had a challenge with the terrain, we also had to deal with the owners of the houses you are seeing at the back and also the National Environment Management Authority, who had to inspect and approve all the designs,” said Macgoye.
According to the plan, the contractor will have to put at least three floors before they reach the ground level because of the depth of that trench.
“We are behind schedule because we had anticipated that the contractor will finish their work by December this year. However, from the look of things, we expect the building to be ready by September next year,” he told the Senate Committee on Transport.
The Senate Committee of Transport Kimani Wamatangi said even though the construction of the building is behind schedule, they expect it to deliver results once completed.
“We have been informed that this building will be the centre for all maritime activities, not only for Kenya but the East African region,” he said.
He said as a committee they have not received any complaints in regards to the different budgets that were approved for the construction of the building.
Reports are rife that the initial budget was Sh800 million, but the budget rose to Sh1.2 billion and last Sh1.8 billion, which raised eyebrows.
“We want to ask Kenyans not to speculate so much. We have not received any complaint about the construction of this building, it has all the necessary approval from the KMA board, NEMA and the National Treasury,” said Wamatangi, who is also the Kiambu Senator.
After completion, the KMA headquarters will house the Maritime Technology Cooperation Centre (MTCC) for Africa region.
The MTCC is one of the five centres the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will set up globally and has a budget of Sh1.1 billion funded by the European Union.
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