Kenya expects to start work on a second port and it also expects the first ship to call at the new port before the end of 2012. This was said by President Kibaki on 12 July 2011 when he addressed a meeting in his office called to discuss the need to proceed on the planning of the project with all urgency.

The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Raila Odinga, by  Head of the Civil Service  and Secretary to the Cabinet Mr Francis Mathaura, Transport Minister Amos Kimunya, and by the representatives of Japan Port Consultants.

The President explained that the project is part of a plan to create a transport corridor linking Ethiopia to Southern Sudan and on to Kenya to a new port at Lamu. The link will be a  new railway line from Lamu to Juba wih a link to Addis Ababa, a dual carriageway highway and an oil pipeline from Lamu to Juba as well as increasing trade at the Coast and in inland Kenya the new infrastructure will open up a vast area of Northern Kenya  whose economy  has lagged behind the rest of the country.

“Ground breaking for the first three berths of the Lamu Port should be done as soon as possible and I look forward  to commissioning the Port and welcoming the first ship to call there before the end of 2012,” the President said.

“As you may be aware Kenya will host the  meeting of the COMESA, EAC, SADC, Tripartite Conference in September. Several countries in the region have welcomed the development of a port at Lamu and of the corridor linking Lamu to Ethiopia and Southern Sudan . This is testimony  to the potential of this corridor  as through regional initiatives of this kind  we can assist in the development of the region and we can extent the corridor to Rwanda, to Burundi, to the Congo and even to Doula in Cameroon. In this way we can create a bridge across Africa,” the President continued.

“I welcome our private and public development partners to partner with us on this project. This is a project that is doable in our time. Let us give it our full support,” the President concluded.

Consultants
Japan Port Consultants Were appointed by the Kenya Government  in May 2011 to carry out a feasibility study  for the development of a second port at Lamu and the development of a transport corridor to connect the port to mainland, Kenya and to Southern Sudan and to Ethiopia. Besides the port the project also incorporates an oil refinery at Lamu  and a 1,720 kilometre standard gauge railway line  to handle high speed trains with a capacity of 160 kilometres per hour. Also envisaged is a two-lane  highway from Lamu  through Isiolo  and Nokodok, a pipeline to transport crude oil from Southern Sudan to  a refinery at Lamu, three airports at Lamu, Isiolo and Lokichogio  and resort cities at Lamu, Isiolo and the shores of Lake Turkana. Once the railway line is complete by the year 2030 it will handle up to 30 trains to South Sudan and 52 to Ethiopia daily.

The project will also see the transformation of Lamu Island into a metropolis.

According to the feasibility study the project once complete will link the country to its two northern neighbours  Ethiopia and South Sudan  opening up the region to immense socio-economic  development along the transport corridor, especially in the eastern, northern and northern eastern parts of the country and promote cross border trade. The study puts the  total cost of the project at $23 billion.

The port comprising 20 berths. is expected to be complete by 2030 at a cost of $3.5 billion. The project cost of the railway line is $7.1 billion while the highway is expected to cost another $1.4 billion and the oil pipeline $4 billion.

The resort cities at Lamu, Isiolo and Lake Turkana will cost $1.2 billion  while the oil refinery will cost $2.5 billion. Airports at Lamu, Isiolo and Lokichogio will cost $560 million each. Additional infrastructure including power, water and communication facilities will cost an extra $2.5 billion.

The port, which will sit on 1,000 acres  is expected to make Kenya a trans-shipment hub because of its deep water and ability to accommodate  large vessels.

Transpoprt corridors
Delegates from Comesa, EAC, SADC together with IGAD met in Nairobi on 28th and 29th September 2011 for a major regional infrastructure conference. Opening the conference President Mwai Kibaki  highlighted the importance of regional connections between countries. The focus of the conference was on four critical corridors  - Central, North Eastern, Lamu and Djibout in the Eastern and  Horn of Africa region. The corridors traverse 10 countries. The Northern and Lamu corridors are important to Kenya because they will open up the Largely undeveloped northern part of the country.

The President said, “We are gathered in Nairobi at a time when Kenya is at an advanced stage in the development of the Lamu – Southern Sudan –Ethiopia Corridor. This is indeed the regions most ambitious infrastructure project since the construction of the Mombasa – Nairobi – Uganda railway over 100 years ago.

The Lamu project, the President said, “will open up a vast interland to development and interface with other corridors in the region which Kenya is happy to promote. A new port at Lamu will link via a modern railway line to Juba, alongside a modern highway  and a fuel pipeline.”

On road development, the President said, “In Kenya we have embarked on an extensive programme of road construction  and road maintenance to keep our road network in reasonable condition.

On power we have e considerable potential in terms of hydro, geothermal, gas, coal and wind to provide power supplies but are taking the precaution to build regional interconnectors through the Eastern African Power Pool and the Southern Africa Power Pool and we are also arranging an interconnector to Ethiopia to take advantage of their vast hydro power resources.

Corridor Discussion
During the second day of the Conference Mr Peter Oremo, Lamu Project Manager said that the Lamu Corridor Project  was expected to cost $25 billion which was more than double Kenya’s national budget of 2011/2012 which stood at Sh 1.2 trillion.

The projects ground breaking ceremony was expected to be held in November this year. It  is expected to be funded through Public-Private Partnerships’ government and donor funds.

The government will seek long-term funding through infrastructure bonds.

“The project involves a huge capital outlay  which is why it will be implemented in phases . The benefits once completed are also huge,” Oremo noted. Its components include a port, railway, highway, airport , refinery resort cities and support infrastructure  like water and telecommunications.