At its unveiling in 2021, Lamu Port South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) Corridor was estimated to cost Ksh2.5 trillion and was supposed to ease cargo transhipment across the three countries.
In June 2022, Lamu Port phase 1 was completed at a taxpayer's cost of Ksh48 billion.
At that time former President Uhuru Kenyatta was optimistic that it would replace Mombasa Port as the largest port in the country boasting 32 berths that could accommodate big container ships and small ships picking cargo from Lamu for onward transhipment to other ports in the world, including feeding the Mombasa port.
“This project will open up opportunities in trade, and tourism and create jobs not only in Lamu County but across the country,” an ecstatic Uhuru stated back then.
Despite sinking billions in the project, Uhuru opened the port using borrowed equipment from Mombasa port.
Due to a lack of adequate investment, the Port would only attract vessels that had their own gear for operations and by October 2022, it had received only 13 vessels.
Two years since the opening of the port, it has only received 19 vessels despite gobbling a whopping Ksh48 billion meaning only six ships have docked in the port in the last six months.
To put it in contrast, Mombasa Port received over 2000 vessels over a similar period.
Other blunders that have made the port not to be profitable include the non-completion of the Lapsset corridor.
Insecurity in the region due to Al Shabaab extremists in the region has also made port users avoid the project.
Ships seeking to trade in the Horn of Africa have hence preferred to use Salalah Port which is located in Oman.
Lastly, political instability in the country threatened the sustainability of the project as it depends on the political goodwill of the current government to revive the project.
In what seems like a flicker of hope for the now ghost project, on February 26, 2023, President William Ruto committed to commercialising Lamu Port.
He reiterated his predecessor's sentiments that an efficient Port of Lamu would unlock the economic potential of the region through infrastructure development, investment and the creation of new industries.
