Nairobi — Plans to build a bridge or an underwater tunnel to ease congestion at the Mombasa Port are not viable.

Roads Assistant minister Lee Kinyanjui said on Wednesday a feasibility study carried out in 1994 had shown that the cost of a bridge was very expensive as a clearance for ships' passage will also be required.

"An underwater tunnel is also not viable due to the unreliable source of power in the country," he said.

Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa (PNU) and Alego Usonga MP Edwin Yinda (ODM) had said a bridge will be a viable option given the severe congestion at the port.

The two said the erratic ferry services connecting the North Coast and the South Coast and "the near stampedes and resultant traffic jams" needed to be solved permanently through a bridge or an underwater tunnel.

Mr Wamalwa said it was wrong for the Assistant minister to cite cost as an impediment when he had not considered the savings likely to be made if the congestion at the port is eased.

Mutito MP Kiema Kilonzo said the man-hours wasted in the traffic jams had cost the country millions of shillings "yet the government kept on talking about feasibility studies."

Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim ruled that all the feasibility studies on the viability of a bridge or a tunnel be tabled in the House.

However, Mr Kinyanjui said designs for the construction of a bypass, to the Likoni channel from Miritini (on the Mombasa-Nairobi Highway), passing through the old explosive jetty past Tsunza to Bombo, was almost ready.

The proposed bypass will connect to the proposed one at Dongo Kundu Port and the Likoni-Ukunda road near Ngombeni.

"Another link will be constructed to connect the new road to the new Kipevu terminal being built by the Kenya Ports Authority," he added.

Garsen MP Danson Mungatana (Narc Kenya) took issue with the Dongo Kundu bypass saying "it's a story repeated by successive governments."

"This link is important for the economy of Coast Province," Mr Mungatana said.

Mr Kinyanjui said the design contracts for the Dongo Kundu road was already underway.

"The design is expected in May 2010 and thereafter my Ministry will source funding for implementation of the project," he said.

But even as the focus moves to solving the congestion at the normally busy Kilindini harbour and the Likoni ferry, the government will now have to sort out the mess, or at least mitigate, with the festive season around the corner.