Lamu, KENYA: The ongoing construction of the first three terminals of the new Lamu port-LAPSSET is now 40% complete.
According to the LAPSSET project director general Sylvestre Kasuku,the first terminal at the port site will be completed by June 2018.
Speaking during a brief on the LAPSSET Infrastructure master plan at the Mwana Arafa Hotel in Lamu on Tuesday,Kasuku expressed confidence that all the three terminals will be completed by close of the year 2020.
He said the three terminals alone will cost Sh.48 Billion.
The entire LAPSSET Corridor project is worth Sh.2.5 trillion.
He said the authority is currently pursuing the development of the appropriate road infrastructure connections that will connect the port to the rest of the LAPSSET corridor as well as other parts of the country and party nations.
Kasuku said the project has so far used about Sh.15 Billion which has gone into the design works undertaken at the site together with the general port construction works and auxiliary facilities.
“The port construction project is taking shape very well and so far we have had to work within the confines of the plan as was planned..We have got a lot of support from the county government of Lamu, the people and other agencies of the national govt.I would like to say that we are all working together to deliver the port project,” said Kasuku.
Kasuku said the LAPSSET portends huge economic and industrial benefits to Lamu,Kenya and East Africa region.
He said the LAPSSET will open up Kenya to more and bigger trade opportunities and investments in Africa and the world wide.
“With the LAPSSET fully in place,Kenya will be open to global trade and industrial markets.That will be extremely good for our economy and even for Lamu as the host county.As an authority we are putting in all our best efforts to ensure the project comes to fruition and at the exact time it should be up.We are talking the talking the year 2020,”said Kasuku.
The construction of the LAPSSET headquarters that cost Sh.866 Million and the port police station has so far been completed.
The Lapsset Corridor Project plan includes a 32-berth port, transportation hubs for rail, highway and international airports in Lamu, Isiolo and Lodwar, an oil pipeline from South Sudan, Uganda and Ethiopia to Lamu Port, an oil refinery and three resort cities in Isiolo, Lamu and Turkana.
The government expects the LAPSSET to have impact on the livelihoods of 166 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan and other East African countries.
With the intervening discovery of economically viable oil deposits in Lokichar,Turkana along the LAPSSET corridor, the proposed refinery and oil based infrastructure will automatically be able to refine oil mined from Turkana.
It has been suggested that the Lamu basin has a potential of generating up to 3.7 billion barrels of oil.
