LAPSSET Corridor: Private investors urged to capitalize on mega-project

The business community has been asked to take advantage of opportunities arising as a result of the Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor project.

New Partnership for Africa Development/Africa Peer Review Mechanism (NEPAD/APRM) Kenya Secretariat CEO Samori Okwiya appealed to private investors to set up businesses along the corridor so that East Africa’s largest infrastructure project spurs regional trade and economic growth in the region.

“It is by setting up businesses along the stretch that trading centres will grow into towns and spur trade and breathe life into the project,” Amb. Okwiya said after meeting Isiolo County Commissioner Geoffrey Omoding.

The official spoke when he led a delegation from Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya National Highway Authority and LAPSSET development agency in monitoring implementation of Lapsset projects in Isiolo County among them the International Airport that has been operating below its capacity.

The Sh2.5 trillion project, which links Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan, has seven key projects including 32 Berth Port at Lamu, Lamu-Garissa-Isiolo highway, crude oil and product pipelines, Standard Gauge Railway, international airports, Resort Cities and multipurpose High Grand Falls dam along Tana River.

When they met Omoding, Okwiya assured that sections of the Lamu-Hola-Garissa highway that were cut off by the recent El-Nino floods would be repaired within the shortest time possible so that the stretch is fully motorable.

The delegation, he said, will after monitoring and evaluation of all the projects including Isiolo-Moyale highway and One Stop Border Post at Moyale, prepare a report that President William Ruto will present during the annual African Union meeting.

Among the LAPSSET road infrastructure that is complete is 10-kilometre Lamu port access road, 505-kilometre Isiolo-Moyale-Hawassa highway and 338-kilometre Lokichar-Nadapal road that starts in Isiolo, cuts through Torit to Juba in South Sudan.

The design for the Isiolo-Lokichar stretch has already been completed with Garissa-Isiolo Road that starts at Modogashe and wades through Garbatulla town to Kachiuru currently at three per cent.

Omoding assured contractors working on the road, which had stalled due to a dispute over ownership of the land where the campsite and quarry are located, of adequate security, saying the safety of workers was paramount.

The county commissioner expressed optimism that State efforts to resolve the matter out of court would sail through so that work resumes in a fortnight.

It was proposed, during a recent stakeholder meeting in Nairobi, that the county government be enjoined in the suit so that it helps amicably resolve the dispute.

The senior administrator called for the allocation of more funds towards the expansion of the Isiolo International Airport’s runaway to attract horticultural farmers in Meru and Laikipia counties as well as Miraa farmers who transport the crop from Nairobi to Somalia into embracing air travel.

The airport that was commissioned by former President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2017 after an upgrade had been billed to be a game-changer in the economies of Northern Kenya but has never been fully operational.

“The expansion will enable it to grow as a cargo hub and boost trade by helping export meat and other livestock products from the export abattoir to Middle East countries,” Omoding said.

Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi last week announced that the Isiolo export abattoir whose construction started 16 years ago would be completed in three months, reviving hopes for pastoralists in Northern Kenya.

On the delegation’s concern over security lapses along the Isiolo-Moyale highway, Omoding assured that adequate measures were in place to ensure the highway was in use on a 24-hour basis.

“People no longer require police escorts while traveling or ferrying products and livestock due to enhanced security along the stretch, thanks to the multiagency security team which we have directed not to operate from fixed points,” he said.