The last two years, the agenda of dredging Lake Victoria has remained high on the government’s agenda. The urgent need for the revival of maritime trade in the region has been fuelling dredging ambitions in the lake, and now, dredging plans appear to have been set off.
The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has gone public with an invitation for tender, appealing to interested companies to submit bids. Apart from the Lake Victoria pier, KPA is planning to upgrade 20 more piers in Mbita causeway.
In order to increase the capability to berth bigger vessels in the Lake Victoria region, dredging the port is the most critical factor. Once the work is complete, Kisumu is expected to grow into a major hub in East Africa.
Sources close to KPA indicate that the once the dredging is complete, Kisumu port will have the capacity of berthing at least 1,000 metric tonnes. Experts estimate that the initial port capacity stands at 600,000 metric tonnes annually. According to KPA, the dredging will cost Ksh 2 million while the project also targets feeder ports.
Stalled process in maritime transport
At the moment, road transport is the key means of ferrying goods around the East African region. Once work on the port is complete, the situation is expected to change, thereby improving maritime trade and cargo exports across the lake.
In 2018, attempts to start the process stalled after the Uhuru government leased a dredger from a Chinese company operating in Uganda to start dredging. The process was not only considered non-competitive due to lack of tendering, but the hand of corruption was also suspected.
Experts raised the alarm because it could not be understood how an old and decrepit 70-metre-long 4,000-tonne dredger could accomplish the dredging task in Lake Victoria without first being evaluated by experts.
Opponents had argued that there were more advanced dredging machines in the market than the ageing Chinese junk that the government had hired from an old isolated yard in Uganda.
Death of economic activities in Kisumu
Maritime transport across Lake Victoria has, in the past, been very active until politics killed it. Political marginalization of Nyanza province for over five decades exterminated all forms of economic activities in Kisumu.
Due to lack of funds for maintenance, the piers have, over the years, suffered dilapidation while other piers have simply been destroyed by the ever-swelling waters of the lake.
The situation has been exacerbated by subsequent governments that have come to power and that have tended to view members of the Luo community (who dominate the Lake region) as perpetual government opponents.
While this perception has tended to deny Nyanza its rightful share of development, it has also contributed to the stagnation of Nyanza’s economic system. The death of maritime transport in Lake Victoria is just a single example.
Millions of Kisumu residents see the revival of Kisumu port as the product of the “Handshake” between former Prime Minister, Raila Amolo Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Key piers that have been earmarked for upgrade by KPA are: Asembo Bay, Homa Bay, Kendu Bay, Muhuru Bay, Kowuor Bay, Karungu Bay, Kisumu Bay, Mbita Bay and Mfangano Bay.
