Energy vs Conservation: Race to stop Lamu coal plant is on
A coal power plant. Save Lamu, a community-based organisation, is enlisting the support of the local community to stop Lamu coal power project, which is expected to inject 1,050MW of thermal power into the national grid when completed. PHOTO | FILE
On a hot afternoon in April, the 900-acre bushland, with centuries-old baobab trees scattered around is the venue of a meeting between a community of Bajuni fishermen and small-scale farmers, and Save Lamu, a community-based organisation.
The residents of Kwasasi in Lamu County call this land, now marked with beacons, “box.” The box is the proposed site for the Lamu Coal Plant, a project opposed by Save Lamu, a coalition of more than 36 local organisations dealing with the enormity of projects like the Lamu Port and the Lamu Port South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) Corridor project.
