The Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport corridor, known as Lapsset, is a huge infrastructure project that the Kenya government is backing.

The project begins in Lamu, where a new mega-port is planned plus a transport hub including roads, railway and international airport. The plans also include a pipeline and oil-refinery, an industrial complex and a resort city — an ambitious project by any standards.

So far, no licence has been given from the National Environment Management Authority, yet the work has begun. A major concern in Lamu is the lack of transparent mitigation measures against the environmental and social impacts of the project as well as the inadequacy of consultations with the community.

Perhaps to offset this failure, the Physical Planning Office, Nairobi, organised a workshop in Lamu called “Envisioning Lamu Metropolis.”

It was by invitation only, but this is a small town and the word always gets out when something important is going on. There were some, like me, who were willing to face possible rejection so as to gather information about what the national government is planning for our future, i.e. the Lapsset project. Fortunately, they let us in.

The workshop started with a physical planning presentation that outlined the components of Lapsset in Lamu County. It was probably a mistake to start there, though the organisers did not realise it. It was a mistake because we had never been privy to that information before.

Yes, there have been maps published but they were general in nature and excluding some of the Lapsset components. This time, the maps were detailed and exhibited the acreage envisioned and the areas targeted, including the port, oil pipeline and refinery, the highways, railways and international airport, the resort city and the Special Economic Zone.

It was quite a mouthful.

We have been kept in the dark in Lamu. To let you know just how dark that is, let me give some examples.

The oil refinery was initially planned for Lamu, then, the newspapers reported that it would be in Isiolo, then, we heard that there would not be a refinery at all, too expensive and economic partners (read China) wanted the oil raw.

Well, from the presentation in the workshop, the oil refinery is back in the plan and, for better or worse, it is back in Lamu.

We also had many rumours circulating that the resort city was to be on the mainland around Hindi, then, we heard it was planned for Pate, then, we heard it was to be in Mkunumbi. Now, with this latest presentation, there is no one city, rather it is a plan consisting of five components scattered around the county.

There is also the international airport. It was rumoured to be in Hindi and later Mkunumbi — no one knew exactly where.

In the presentation on Lapsset, Patrick Waweru from the Physical Planning Office, Nairobi, revealed the actual size of the planned port.

According to his report, the area covers 28,500 hectares on land and sea. The portion on land, we were told, is 10,000 hectares and sea coverage another 18,500 hectares. Not even the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) of the port had that information.

What does this mean for the Lamu community? On land, it means that more farmers will be forcibly removed, and by sea the effects will be even greater.

The port is right in the middle of the channel that is the major highway for all traffic to and from the islands of the Lamu Archipelago. It is the lifeline for all commerce, for reaching health care, for tourists visiting the marine park and historic monuments and for students going to and from schools, not to mention the hundreds of fisher folk who utilise the waters for fishing, prawning, crabbing and the like.

A good analogy to blocking this channel would be halting the Likoni ferry because of the Mombasa Port, or another example, the government building a complex on the Thika Highway, halting traffic in both directions.

Neither is possible given how important these transportation links are to the people who use them, but this is exactly what is planned for Lamu

Heztech Engineers, the consultants providing the ESIA and mitigation measure to offset impacts, have suggested that the sick can fly out on a refurbished air strip (unlikely given the costs) and the boats involved in commerce and transport (matatus if you like) should take a roundabout route that entails a dangerous detour on the high seas and adding three-plus hours to your destination time, if you reach at all.

If I go to any adult person from Lamu and tell them the plan, either they will laugh thinking it’s a joke, or spit knowing it is not.

There is also this new component called “Special Economic Zones” or an industrial park. An area, we found out, which is to be allotted 7,000 hectares.

There is the Disney World-type amusement park on Manda Island, a cultural and IT centre in Mkunumbi, a fisherman’s wharf in Kiongwe, a convention centre in Ndeu and a port city, which the planners refer to as the “metropolis,” covering 647 km2, or slightly smaller than Nairobi city’s land mass. 

Next on the itinerary was to look at its impacts.

Mr Waweru began to go through his compact short list of demographic, socio-economic and environmental issues. Starting with demographics, he predicted that the population of the metropolis would be 500,000 people over the next three years — an increase of almost 500 per cent; in 10 years’ time, the city is expected to grow to 1.25 million people.

He called the increase of population in the area kama tsunami(like a tsunami). For us in the audience, that was not a comforting thought. It spelled disaster.

By the time the presentation on Lapsset was completed, mouths had dropped and Mr Waweru had a difficult time keeping to his topic.

That is, he could not steer the audience to “Envision the Metropolis.” People were too busy criticising the gaping holes, like, where are the grazing corridors for pastoralists? Where will the fishermen fish? How would we save the mangroves? What about the environmental degradation? Why another airport when we have one that has recently been expanded?

Mr Waweru opened Pandora’s Box. He did not realise that this was our first time to see the Lapsset project unrolled, component by component. It hit local stakeholders like a warning of an impending disaster, a tsunami to use Mr Waweru’s words, without the benefit of disaster relief. 

The question is, will we simply be following a script written in Nairobi or will local stakeholders hold sway to envision the county in their own way and to ensure that whatever is developed is sustainable environmentally and socially?