Infrastructure
Work on Sh62bn Lamu-Isiolo road to begin in February
The project will be undertaken by South African firm Raubeck Construction.
Construction of a 530-kilometre highway from Lamu to Isiolo via Garissa will begin in February after realisation of a funding agreement between Kenya and a South African state-owned bank.
The project was expected to kick off in August after the government secured funding from the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) in November 2017, but this did not happen due to late release of the funds.
The Lamu-Isiolo road, which is the first section of the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor project, will be completed in four years at a cost of Sh62 billion.
The project will be undertaken by South African firm Raubeck Construction.
“The infrastructure links that the Lamu-Isiolo road will provide to neighbouring countries will foster trade and lead to regional economic development,” Sylvester Kasuku, Lapsset director general, said on Sunday.
Construction of the Lamu-Garissa-Isiolo road to bitumen standards will be financed under the annuity programme where the government negotiates low interest loans from banks to enable contractors to design, build and maintain a road for up to eight years.
The government would then repay the loan in equal instalments (annuity) over eight years from the time a given road is completed.
In October 2016, during a state visit of then South African President Jacob Zuma, global investors led by the DBSA pledged to invest Sh196 billion into the Lapsset project.
DBSA, wholly owned by the government of South Africa, has previously arranged funding for projects in energy, water, ICT and transport sectors across Africa.
A brief by State House spokesperson Manoah Esipisu on October 16, 2016, indicated that a total of Sh124 billion would be used to set up three additional berths at Lamu port with Sh72.5 billion going to the Lamu-Garissa-Isiolo road.
The Lamu corridor project, which was commissioned by President Mwai Kibaki in 2012, is expected to open up northern Kenya for more trade and investment.
The project is identified as the long term conduit for Kenya’s oil exports through a crude pipeline linking Lamu to the oilfields in Turkana. So far construction of the Lapsset headquarters, which cost Sh866 million, and a police station are complete.
Construction of the first berth of the Lamu port is expected to be completed by mid next year, with the second and third coming through by 2020.
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