NAIROBI: Kenya Ferry Services is set to increase charges for motorists using the Likoni Channel after a consultative stakeholder forum endorsed the proposed vehicular toll charges.
Managing Director Musa Hassan Musa says even though there was a general consensus on the proposed hike, some of concerns were raised which would be incorporated in the final document to be submitted to the Ministry of Transport. The toll charges paid up by the motorists at the Likoni Channel are government controlled and were last reviewed three years ago.
However, the charges are set to be increased by between 15 percent and 50 percent after a consultative forum endorsed a proposal by the Kenya Ferry Service to hike the vehicular toll charges.
Kenya Ferry Service Managing Director Musa Hassan Musa says the revised rate will help the company bridge the increasing financing gap as a result of rising cost of operation. He says some of the proposed rates will be reviewed in the light of concerns raised by some stakeholders.
In a statement Musa said: “There was a general consensus to our proposal as many stakeholders understood where we were coming from. We also took note of some of the concerns raised which we will review before we submit a memo to the Ministry of Transport in the coming weeks.”
Tourism stakeholders supported the upward review of rates but pleaded with Kenya Ferry Services to consider the issues facing the sector.
Musa said: “We will reconvene as a board and review the memorandum presented to us by the Kenya Association of Tour operators in the light of what the industry is facing and come up with a solution favourable to both parties.”
During the stakeholders forum, delegates approved a suggestion that Kenya Ferry Services retains some of the rates like the charges for loaded bicycles.
With the proposed new charges, 3.5 and 6 metre long cars will pay Sh150 and Sh180 up from the current Sh90 and Sh120 respectively. Land Rovers will pay Sh300 from the current Sh200. Pickups will pay Sh180 which is Sh60 more than the current charges.
Pedestrians will continue to enjoy free ferry services as the basis of an annual renewable contract under which the government pays for about 300,000 people who are ferried across the channel daily.
The five ferries operating on the Likoni channel transport between 5,000 and 6,000 vehicles a day, though this rises to 7,000 vehicles daily during holidays. Last year, the company crossed around 108 million passengers and close to 2 million vehicles.
