Lamu port set to be a growth catalyst

According to Dr Kilonzo, partners will be sought based on specific components of the project.

Although the government of Qatar had shown AN interest in funding the construction of the Lamu port in return for 100,000 acres of land at the Tana Delta to grow fruits and vegetables, Kenya’s Minister for Transport Chirau Ali Mwakwere early this year said that other options were also being explored after the move drew mixed reactions, adding however that the government was keen on implementing the project.

“Some investors may only be interested in financing one component of the project, like say the railway line,” Dr Kilonzo said.

He said that various countries among them India, the United Arab Emirates, the US and Qatar have already shown interest in financing the project which was first mooted in 1975. The railway line has already been incorporated in the East African Railway master plan,” Dr Kilonzo said.

The Lamu refinery will refine some of the crude oil for the sub-regional market while the rest will be exported. Sophisticated cargo handling equipments will also be put up to facilitate tanker loading in the high seas.

The port plan also features a second pipeline to be constructed from the Lamu refinery to Addis Ababa to deliver refined oil products to Ethiopia.

A branch of a pipeline is also being considered to join Lamu to the existing Mombasa-Kampala pipeline to transport oil products to Uganda.

“But this will be decided once the planned pipelines are complete,” said Dr Kilonzo.

Uganda, which is a landlocked country relying on Mombasa port, has already planned to go-ahead with the construction of a refinery for the two billion barrels of crude reserves recently found on its territory, according to Uganda’s energy minister.

Investor interest is already heating up for Uganda’s oil discoveries since explorers — Tullow Oil and Heritage Oil — discovered hydrocarbons in the Lake Albert region bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo. Kampala expects to start pumping oil from next year.

Kenya, Dr Kilonzo said, provides an ideal gateway to the sub-region with a well-developed port as well as its increasingly diversified aerodrome network.

Southern Sudan, a recent addition to the family of peaceful nations, is expected to be a huge exporter of oil, which is more economic if refined at the port of exit, Dr Kilonzo said.

The government, he said, will also commission a study soon to explore the feasibility of extending the railway line as well as the pipeline from Juba to Bangui in Central Africa and onward to Yaoundé in Cameroon.