Jul 28, 2017 | News

Towards an integrated Africa through infrastructure development

Nairobi, July 19, 2017 - The Lamu Port (Kenya), South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET[1]) Corridor Programme is Eastern Africa’s largest and most ambitious infrastructure project bringing together Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan. The regional project between the countries has the aim of linking them to each other, as well as their neighbours in eastern Africa.

A NEPAD Agency mission was recently undertaken to Kenya, led by David Niyonsenga, PIDA Infrastructure Expert, to facilitate the technical structuring of Lamu-Isiolo-Juba Highway Project, the 1800 km trunk road, as one of the pillars of the LAPSSET Corridor Development. 

Deliberations on this project were held with representatives from Kenya, South Sudan and the East African Community (EAC).  The focus was on joint project implementation coordination, project design, harmonisation and resource mobilisation.

The deliberations also involved the following:

  • An overview of the LAPSSET Corridor Development
  • A review of the progress and status of the Lamu-Isiolo-Juba Highway (1800km)
  • An overview of Kenya Highway Design and Construction Standards
  • An overview of South Sudan Highway Design and Construction
  • An overview of EAC Road design standards for corridor highways
  • Stocktaking of the lessons learnt from implementation of EAC multinational road projects
  • Consideration of possible challenges to the LAPSSET corridor implementation

The LAPSSET Corridor mega project is a corridor under speedy development and that is being tracked by all the countries involved. It is also one of the 51 main continental PIDA programmes covering transport, energy, ICT and logistics based infrastructure. 

The corridor aims at creating seamless connectivity between East African countries (Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan) by connecting a population of 160 million people in the three countries, with potential to impact the wider Eastern and Central African regions. In addition, the LAPSSET Corridor is part of the larger land bridge that will connect the East African coast from Lamu Port to the West coast of Africa, at Port of Douala in Cameroon.

 

[1] The LAPSSET mega project consists of seven key infrastructure projects starting with a new 32 Berth port at Lamu (Kenya); Interregional Highways from Lamu to Isiolo, Isiolo to Juba (South Sudan), Isiolo to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), and Lamu to Garsen (Kenya), Crude Oil Pipeline from Lamu to Isiolo, Isiolo to Juba; Product Oil Pipeline from Lamu to Isiolo, Isiolo to Addis Ababa; Interregional Standard Gauge Railway lines from Lamu to Isiolo, Isiolo to Juba, Isiolo to Addis Ababa, and Nairobi to Isiolo; 3 International Airports: one each at Lamu, Isiolo, and Lake Turkana; 3 Resort Cities: one each at Lamu, Isiolo and Lake Turkana; and The multipurpose High Grand Falls Dam along the Tana River:  http://www.lapsset.go.ke/