Development Bank of Southern Africa finances 580km of road reconstruction in Kenya
The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) has agreed with the Kenya Ministry of Transport to finance reconstruction of a 580km road between Lamu and Isiolo, which is part of the Lamu Port – South Sudan – Ethiopia Transport Project (LAPSSET), with a cost KShs 60 billion.
Detailed designs for the road is complete, and funding is available for the preliminary works and bush clearing that is due to start in May 2017, in advance of the main road construction activities.
LAPSSET
In October 2016, the Kenya government announced during the State visit of South African President Jacob Zuma that a consortium of international investors led by the DBSA was ready to invest US$1.9 billion (Sh196 billion) in the LAPSSET project.
According to a State House spokesperson, US$1.2 billion (Sh124 billion) will provide for three additional berths at Lamu port. US$700 billion (Sh72.5 billion) would be devoted to the Lamu-Garissa-Isiolo road, which is key to the LAPSSET project since it would connect the proposed the Kenyan port of Lamu to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, boosting trade between the two countries.
In the meantime, Ethiopia is building a railway line to connect to Kenya through the border at Moyale.
The Lamu corridor project will open up Kenya’s northern frontier for more trade and investment, and identified as the long-term conduit for Kenya’s oil exports through a crude oil pipeline linking Lamu to the oilfields in Turkana.
