As is often the case in Africa, the go-ahead for the construction of an infrastructure is given when the funds earmarked to compensate the citizens who are to be removed from the properties used for the project are actually distributed.
This would seem to be the case, three years after the project for the construction of the Mombasa bridge was approved. The bridge, in the words of the Minister of Transport Kipchumba Murkomen, will be the longest in the whole of Africa and will be built by the Japanese, thanks to an initial loan of about EUR 250 million, of which EUR 45 million will go to the families affected by the construction, who will have to look for somewhere else to live.

The problem is always complex, as Kenya still has the problem of 'ancestral owners' of land. The frenetic growth of the country, which has gone from 'third world' to 'developing country' and now nurtures the dream of joining the G20, has not given the institutions time to keep up with every aspect of life and citizens' rights. Thus, the distribution of land titles has been slow for years, and most certificates, who knows why, are given out during election campaigns.

It goes without saying that when asked to show proof of ownership of land, many Kenyans, who have lived in the area for generations, cannot do so.
Here, according to the state, they would not be entitled to compensation, but this is obviously not the case.
This, for example, is one of the thorny cases that do not allow the runway of the Malindi International Airport to be lengthened and widened.
In the coastal town, part of the delays have been caused by the need to compensate a total of 1,706 families who have been displaced from 725 plots of land of about 62 hectares.

As far as the Mombasa bridge is concerned, the infrastructure will mean that the ferry will no longer have to be used to travel from the city-island to the southern coast of the country, to the tourist resort of Diani and the Tanzanian border.
"The Mombasa gateway bridge will not only facilitate the movement of people and goods between the island and the southern coast, but will also be a tourist attraction," said Murkomen.
The work, once started, is expected to be completed in three years.