Ferry services at Mtongweni have resumed following President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-launch of the ferry services, five years after the services were suspended.

Uhuru has said that an estimated 30,000 people will now be using the channel daily adding that plans are underway to procure two new ferries at a cost of Sh2.2 billion and also build ramps at the crossing channel for use by vehicles in order to ease traffic.

“We will add more vessels at this channel when two new ferries arrive in June or July this year,” Uhuru said.

Ferry services at Mtongweni were suspended five years ago due to poor infrastructure and also the government’s withdrawal of two old ferries for being unseaworthy.

The resumption of ferry operation at Mtongwe is expected to ease pressure on the main Likoni crossing channel.

On April 29, 1994, the MV Mtongwe ferry bound for the mainland capsized just 40 meters from port, killing 272 of the 400 people on board in what is so far Kenya’s worst sea disaster.