China’s Exim Bank is providing $200m in finance for the construction of a new port on Zanzibar, the island’s president Dr Ali Mohamed Shein has told press.
Work on the new facility will begin early next year, the president told allafrica.com.
The new port is being built to ease congestion at Zanzibar’s Malindi harbour (pictured), which currently handles 90% of the island’s trade.
Malindi has seen an increasing number of vessel calls but cannot handle more than three cargo ships at one time, resulting in delays to cargo handling.
Hamad Masoud Hamad, Zanzibar’s minister for infrastructure and communication, said in an interview in 2012 that his government aimed to double the port’s capacity for handling larger oil tankers and containerships.
