The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) can now invite bids from private operators for four assets at the ports of Mombasa and Lamu after the National Treasury’s Public Private Partnership (PPP) unit approved the feasibility report for the deals.
“The feasibility study report was approved in August 2026, for the project to progress to tender,” the unit said in a disclosure reported by Business Daily on Friday.
Four assets in the first phase
The approval covers the first phase of the concession programme. Transaction advisor Maritime & Transport Business Solutions has structured the deals for Mombasa port berths 11 to 14, Mombasa port container terminal 1, Lamu container terminal berths 1 to 3 and the Lamu Special Economic Zone.
According to the PPP Directorate’s project brief, the Lamu container berths and Mombasa container terminal 1 would be run under a landlord concession. Mombasa berths 11 to 14 would be upgraded to international standards under a design, build, finance, operate and maintain arrangement, while the Lamu Special Economic Zone would follow a build, operate and transfer model.
The directorate lists a 30-year contract term and says the private party will be picked through an open competitive tender. The project value is marked as yet to be determined. The same page lists the project as being in the procurement phase but describes its status as “On hold due to a court case”, without naming the case.
The concession plan is listed as a priority PPP project under Kenya’s fourth medium term plan.
Seven more assets lined up
In April 2026, the Treasury opened a wider portfolio of seven more KPA facilities for private investment. These are Mombasa container terminal II (berths 20 to 22), the container terminal at berths 23 and 24, the Mbaraki wharfs, cargo berths 1 to 5 and 7 to 10, and the inland container depots in Nairobi’s Embakasi and Naivasha.
The Treasury said the facilities should be handled together rather than one by one.
“These assets are operationally interconnected and may share common infrastructure and interfaces, including yards, access channels, terminal support facilities, and landside logistics systems,” it said as it sought an advisor for that portfolio.
“Given the scale of the assets, their shared demand drivers, and the strategic objective of transitioning to a landlord port model, it is necessary that these assets are assessed and structured under the PPP framework on a portfolio basis, rather than through fragmented, asset-by-asset transactions,” the Treasury added.
Shimoni as a test case
KPA began looking for an investor to run the Shimoni fish port under a landlord-model PPP in March 2026.
“In 2018, a feasibility study was undertaken for Shimoni fish port, which recommended development and operations of the port under the PPP landlord model. In view of this, construction of the port commenced in October 2022 and was completed in June 2025,” the authority said.
Under a landlord model, the state keeps ownership of the land and core infrastructure and leases it to a private investor, who finances, builds and operates the facility. Mjengo Hub reported that KPA will next issue tender notices and run the evaluation stages in line with public procurement law.
Lamu has also drawn private investment interest beyond the port. A Malindi court recently declined to halt work on Dangote’s planned Lamu refinery.
