Lapsset: Kenya hits the ground running
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| The design layout of three berths |
The government
funded project will cost an estimated US$200 million. This figure has provided for allocated in the current (2012/2013) fiscal year’s budget.
Apart from this, the Kenyan president, Mwai Kibaki, is
globe- trotting marketing Lapsset and the Konza Technocity to the world.
The advertised
tender is for the construction of one general cargo berth, one bulk cargo and a
container berth at Manda Bay, Lamu. All will be dredged to depth of 18.5 Metres.
Other works include; construction of a 113 Ha hard standing yard, Construction
of; internal roads, Administration buildings, slipways and workshops for small
crafts, and associated infrastructure such as water supply, storage and reticulation;
Power and ICT infrastructure.
The three berths will be used to transport materials for
the construction of other components of the Lamu South Sudan- Ethiopia
Transport corridor (LAPSSET)\. These include; a high speed railway line, a highway, a 1,260 KM of crude oil pipeline,
a 980KM white oils pipeline, a 120,000 bpd refinery, a 32- berth sea port,
three resort cities and two international airports.
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| Eliye Springs in Turkana One of the three Resort cities |
Consequently a number of proposals to remove this bottle
neck were floated. Among these is the development of alternative transport
corridors or improvement of the existing ones. The proposed routes include
LAPSSET, the Juba- Gulu Kampala-Nairobi-Mombasa line, the Dar-Es-salaam-Isaka-
Kigali- Bujumbura Railway Line, and the Tanga- Musoma –Uganda line.
Of the four alternatives, only Lapsset looks viable from
an economic standpoint. It will serve an estimated 100 million people in
Northern Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan. The US$23 billion project, arguably
the largest business venture in Africa, was further boosted when South Sudan
chose Kenya as its transport and communications gateway. (see http://eaers.blogspot.com/2012/07/lapsset-biggest-business-venture-in.html)
South Sudan announced that it will build the 1, 230 KM
crude oil Pipeline from its oil wells into Lamu Port at a cost of US$4billion.
However, with the discovery of promising crude oil reserves in Turkana County
in Kenya, the agreement is likely to be reviewed so that Kenya also chips in.
Kenya, reports say, will spend an estimated 16 per cent of its national budget
over the next five years or so to develop the corridor. Once complete, the
project will raise Kenya’s GDP by more than ten per cent a year. (see http://eaers.blogspot.com/2012/02/kenya-to-begin-construction-of-gateway.html)
What’s more, compared to its competition, Lapsset has the
potential to become the gateway to Africa as it is the beginning of Equatorial
land Bridge. The Bridge, say experts, will link the Port of Lamu on the Indian
Ocean to the East to the Port of Doula in Cameroon on the Atlantic Ocean to the
West. Such a link will cut freight travel time by at least two to three weeks
and increase shipping lines’ turn-around times and hence their revenue, say
experts.
These developments have put the viability and development
of the other corridors in doubt, analysts say.
This is because the construction of the Lamu port with its 32-berths
will ease pressure on the 26- berth Mombasa Port making it more efficient.
Since the Mombasa –Nairobi- Kampala railway line is being upgraded to
accommodate high speed trains, other corridors whose aim to ease pressure on
Mombasa become unviable.
Among the corridors whose viability is now in doubt are; the
proposed Juba-Gulu Railway line and the Tanga-Musoma-Uganda corridor. Reduced traffic volumes do not justify the
development of such corridors for the time being.
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