Austrian company, the Doppelmayr Group, has won a contract to build a cable car on the Likoni channel to connect Mombasa Island and the South Coast.
The construction of Kenya’s first cable car is set to start in Mombasa in May at a cost of Ksh5.8 billion ($5.8 million) and is expected to be complete in 2020.
In December last year, Trapos Limited signed an agreement with the Kenya Ferry Services to undertake the cable car project. KFS MD, Bakari Gowa, said the agency was finalising a deal to acquire land on which masts to support the cable cars would be constructed.
“When the cable car project is completed in 2020, it will help decongest ferry services on the Likoni channel. Travellers from either Mombasa or Diani in the South Coast will cross the channel in comfort,” he added.
The project will be particularly useful for international tourists, who for years have been facing ferry delays while crossing the Likoni channel as they head to the South Coast for holidays.
The KFS has faced a daunting task to provide services to 330 000 people and more than 6 000 vehicles daily. Gowa said the express link would have 22 cable cars carrying 38 passengers per cabin. The cable cars will carry 11 000 commuters per hour in both directions, a total of 180 000 people per day. The journey time will be about three minutes and will cost between Ksh20 and Ksh100 (up to $1 per passenger).
The Likoni and Mtongwe channels are currently the only links to the South Coast by road.
KFS is banking on the cable cars to give commuters using the Likoni channel long-term solutions to transport hitches through cable cars and better maintenance of the ferries.
