This archive report was first published on 16 June 2020.
On April 13, the National Security Council made a crucial decision to address the rising Covid-19 infections in Mombasa and Likoni, a crowded shanty town with thousands of residents. The council approved a plan to erect a temporary 529-metre floating bridge across Likoni Channel to ease congestion on ferries and lower the risk of contracting Covid-19 on the vessels.
The project, which will cost the government Sh1.7 billion, has been awarded to M/S China Road and Bridge Corporation by the State Department of Infrastructure. According to Coast Regional Commissioner John Elungata, the first pedestrian footbridge to be built at the channel is expected to end the perennial human congestion.
Under Kenyan law, the channel is classified as a national highway managed by the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA). The construction of the floating pedestrian bridge is a high-level decision in the government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the human congestion at the Likoni Channel.
