Lamu, KENYA: The construction of the first three berths at the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport corridor project-LAPSSET is now 60% complete, the management has confirmed.
The LAPSSET project Director General Silvestre Kasuku said they are confident the first berth will be complete and ready for use by June 30th next year.
The other two berths are to be ready by end of the year 2020.
The three berths are being built at a cost of Sh.48 Billion.
Uncertainty as completion date of first Lamu port berth moved again
Speaking during an inspection tour by the LAPSSET board at the port site at Kililana area in Lamu west on Tuesday,Kasuku said they are committed to ensuring the project is completed on schedule.
Initially, the first berth was to be ready by December this year before was pushed to June 330, 2019
Kasuku, however, says the same doesn’t affect the other two berths and insists that they will be done by 2020.
He said the government had immensely invested in the project and that it would only be prudent
“We are confident that the first berth will be done by June next year while the other two by 2020.T hat means these berths will be ready to receive the first ships docking at the port.W e are able to gauge all this based on the progress we have made so far, we are now at 60%,”said Kasuku.
The Kenya Ports Authority-KPA chairperson Joseph Kibwana termed the LAPSSET an integral game changer that will revolutionize trade, industry and even tourism in Kenya and East Africa.
Kibwana said the KPA would continue to render all the needed cooperation to the LAPPSET board to ensure the project is successful.
“We are positive that the Lapsset will be a game changer not just for Lamu and Kenya but for the entire East African bloc. Its one project we are heavily counting on and looking forward to majorly because of its potential to catapult trade and industry in this region,” said Kibwana.
The KPA Director Daniel Manduku termed the LAPPSET as the perfect solution to rampant unemployment to the youth in Lamu and Kenya as a whole.
Manduku however challenged the youth to go to school and attain the necessary skills and papers that will in turn guarantee them employment at the port once operations commence.
“We already have hundreds working as laborers at the site now. We need more of this when the ports starts to function.
The Lappset 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.
