Lake Victoria has not had a proper hydrographic survey since 1906. This has been
the cause of many accidents and it is thus of particular importance
also considering
the recent low water levels in the lake. SOLVE is able to
assist regional and
national authorities in prioritising areas for hydrographic
surveying as well as formulating
requirements and managing of independent
procurement of the surveying
activities.
A Swedish maritime surveying company has offered to do a pilot survey
of
some of the ports. All ports need to be surveyed so the authorities can
get a firm
basis to decide whether a port should be dredged or enlarged.
The preliminary
tender from the Swedish surveying company contains three
ports including printing
of nautical paper charts as well as electronic charts.
The three ports being
discussed are Port Bell, Kisumu and Mwanza.
The surveying company is “Marin Mätteknik (MMT) from Gothenburg in
Sweden.MMT has made a fact finding mission in the area in February and
March
2006. Their tender implies that MMT will, for the cost of surveying
one port survey
all three ports mention above. SOLVE has good connections
with various companies
which can offer lighthouses, buoyage systems and
other navigational marks
for the lake.
For the fishermen there is a certain issue of great importance. They
need to
know where the shoals and the sunken stones are in order to avoid
them when
they are putting out their
fishing
nets.
