REVEALED: What Blocks Kenya’s Ksh3.2 Trillion LAPSSET Project Ambitions
The Wall Street Journal has discovered what has blocked Kenya’s $25 billion (approximately Ksh3.2 trillion at current exchange rates) Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) corridor project.
The enormous project aims to make Lamu Port the centerpiece of an international commerce hub connecting Ethiopia and South Sudan, which are both landlocked.
However, regular attacks by the terrorist group Al Shabaab in the northeastern region are jeopardizing the project.
The project, which includes roads, trains, oil pipelines, airports, and resort cities, has the potential to pour trillions of shillings into Kenya’s economy if not for security concerns.
President William Ruto inspects section 1 of the 257 km Lamu-Ijara-Garissa road (LAPSSET corridor), which was previously a gravel road and is now being upgraded to tarmac under his directive.
— Hussein Mohamed, MBS. (@HusseinMohamedg) February 7, 2025
So far, 20 km has been tarmacked from Garissa and 5 km from Lamu, with the road set to… pic.twitter.com/sscw601Cwf
If implemented, freight will be delivered by road and railway to the Ethiopian and South Sudanese borders in Moyale and Nakodok, respectively, while oil will be transported by pipeline from Lake Turkana to the coast.
Three international airports are also planned to be built along the corridor, as well as several resort cities.
Despite its potential as a critical transit hub, barely 10% of the Lamu-Garissa route has been paved, owing to frequent Al Shabaab attacks along this route.
Since the construction of the approximately 240-kilometer route began in 2021, 16 people, including Kenyan and Chinese workers, have been killed and 40 more injured in terrorist attacks, severely delaying the project.
As for the Lamu Port, which was supposed to have 23 berths, just three have been constructed and are underutilized.
Despite being the project’s cornerstone, it is only used to handle a small amount of cargo traffic, mostly cattle exports.
“There hasn’t been much activity. Recently, we had a livestock ship with 8,000 animals,” a port official told the Wall Street Journal about activity experienced since the port was opened in 2021.
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The tension on the Somalia border, as well as possible terrorist sympathizers among local ethnic groups, have been noted as additional concerns impeding this project.
Military interventions in the past have failed to reduce the bloodshed, prompting experts to express fear that essential infrastructure critical to this project, like as railways, may never be built.
The deployment of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) to quiet the disputes has also caused a delay in construction efforts.
This is because work typically progresses an average of around five kilometres at a time to allow security and construction workers to move in tandem.
REVEALED: What Blocks Kenya’s Ksh3.2 Trillion LAPSSET Project Ambitions
