LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority Actively Undertaking Stakeholder Engagement

Last Updated 5 years ago by Kenya Engineer

The LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority has undertaken robust stakeholder engagement while working closely with various Ministries, Departments and Agencies within the Government, that are involved in the realization of the LAPSSET Corridor Program. These activities undertaken at the national and international levels have played a critical role in ensuring that stakeholders are well informed and continuously updated on the progress of the Projects and the available prospects that they can take advantage of.

Strategic Environmental Assessment
Towards ensuring compliance to both the National Constitution and reigning environmental legislation, the LAPSSET Corridor Infrastructure Development Project (LCIDP) was subjected to a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Study conducted as per Legal Notice 101 of June 2003 and the Guidelines for Strategic Environmental Assessment issued by NEMA in 2014. The main objective of this process was to ensure environmental sustainability is considered in the implementation of the LAPSSET Program through bridging the gap between environmental protection and economic growth. This provided a platform for LCDA, Government agencies, Private sector environmental players and the communities where the LAPSSET Corridor traverses, to have objective conversations and contributions to the implementation process. This culminated in the development of mechanisms for reducing environmental and social costs associated with achievement of the economic goals of LAPSSET Corridor Infrastructure Development Project (LCIDP) including measures that will enable future adjustments to maintain and promote sustainable and equitable growth in response to anticipated development of the LCIDP.

Environmental and Social Impact Assessment
The Pipeline Project Management Team together with LCDA and the Ministry of Petroleum and mining conducted the Environmental social impact assessment for the LAPSSET Crude Oil Pipeline between My 2018 and November 2019. The objective of ESIA process was to identify and quantify potential project impacts on the biophysical and socio-economic environments through reference to baseline conditions and develop measures to reduce and manage impact. The process entailed stakeholder engagement where the team met more approximately 9,000 participants. Stakeholder consultations were undertaken in various parts of the country including all the counties where the Crude Oil Pipeline traverses. Through the meetings, stakeholder concerns and expectations were registered and addressed. The project affected communities together with their leadership had an opportunity to air their concerns on project risks and impacts. They proposed mitigation and monitoring measures that were taken into consideration in the formulation of the ESIA report recommendations.

Stakeholder Engagement in Land Acquisition

Land requirements are pertinent in the development and realization of the transformation agenda of the LAPSSET Corridor Program. It is a prerequisite in the construction of all seven components of the Program. In the process of land acquisition, public participation as entrenched in the Constitution of Kenya 2010 is a core pillar in this ongoing process. Public participation is a community based process, where people organize themselves and their goals at the grassroots level and work together through Governmental and non-governmental community organizations to influence decision making processes in policy, legislation, service delivery, oversight and development matters. The public is closely involved in the public participation process when the issues at stake directly relate to them. The rationale of public participation is based on the foundation that the people of Kenya have sovereign power which they have delegated to state actors at the national and county levels.

Public participation is being undertaken in various levels and essential among them is the County executive meetings and the Community. A multi-agency team drawn from the National Lands Commission (NLC), LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority (LCDA), Ministry of Petroleum and Mining (MOP&M), Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning, Presidential delivery Unit (PDU), and Ministry of Interior & Coordination of National Government held stakeholder meetings in Turkana, Samburu, Isiolo, Garissa, and, Lamu County with an aim of sensitizing the communities on the LAPSSET Project and the consequent need for land. This is an ongoing process and so far, the team has sensitized about 6,000 participants.