Ambassador Takata attends at the Ground Breaking Ceremony for the Mombasa Port Development Project

On December 5th 2012, Ambassador Toshihisa Takata attended the Ground Breaking Ceremony for the Mombasa Port Development Project（a Concessional Loan project from the Government of Japan） in Mombasa. President Mwai Kibaki, Transport Minister Amos Kimunya, other government ministers and high level officials were present at the ceremony, a testament to the high priority of the Government of Kenya towards this project.

Speaking during the occasion, President Kibaki said that in the last ten years, the Mombasa Port had experienced unprecedented growth in cargo volumes, yet the capacity of the current container terminal was too small to accommodate the current container volumes, which were in excess of 770,000 TEUs. After the construction is completed as expected by 2015 with the Japanese Financial assistance amounting of 27 billion Kenya shillings, the Port will be well positioned to cater for the projected container increase in excess of 960,000 TEUs .

In addition to outlining the effectiveness of the project, Ambassador Takata also referred to another yen loan project Mombasa port area road development project which was adopted by the government of Japan in May this year. He said the development of the port together with the surrounding road would improve the capacity of goods transportation and would lead to the economic growth of the East Africa region.