Lamu, KENYA: Officials from the LAPSSET management board are currently on a two-day tour in Lamu to assess progress at the new port site.
They are led by LAPSSET chair Francis Muthaura, Lapsset CEO Sylvestre Kasuku and Transport PS Paul Maringa.
On Thursday, the three led a delegation from the Lapsset board including representatives of the port contractor on a tour of the port project in Kililana area where they pledged to move mountains to make the project a success.
The construction of the LAPSSET headquarters that cost Sh.866 Million and the port police station has so far been completed.
The Sh.2.5 Trillion 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.
Speaking then, CEO Sylvestre Kasuku said the major objective of the tour was to assess progress and also meet with the various stakeholders including the county government and the county administration and strategize on success plans for the project.
He said the ongoing construction of the first three terminals of the port is now 40% complete and that the first terminal is expected to be complete by end of June 2018.
Kasuku expressed confidence that all three terminals will be complete by end of 2022.
He said construction of the three terminals alone will cost Sh.48 Billion.
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.
Construction of a fully fledged police station within the port site has also been long completed and only awaits occupancy when the port assumes operation.
The government expects the LAPSSET to have an 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
