The construction of the 981 mega watt coal-fired power plant in Lamu, Kenya, is at risk for further delays.

This is if the county leadership is dissatisfied with what the developers will offer the community, as well as the health and environmental impact, which will be disclosed in an assessment report the Star reported.

According to the paper the coal power project is already behind schedule owing to disputes in the award of the tender, which were later dismissed.

Lamu county governor Issa Timammy and other leaders held a two-day consultative meeting with the management of Amu Power, the joint venture formed by Centum and Gulf Energy to undertake the project, in Nairobi.

The leaders said key concerns subject for further discussions include impact on the environment, employment of locals, resettlement of persons to be displaced for the projects and compensation.

Timammy said the county leadership awaits findings of the ongoing environmental and social impact assessment study by Amu Power next month before they can lodge demands.

However, they made it clear that they will only allow the $1.8 billion project, part of the 5 000-plus-megawatt project, to proceed if concerns are addressed.

“We don’t want a repeat of the Lappset where we are now in the fourth year and no one has been compensated. If a resource is in a county, even if it’s national, the county must benefit,” Timammy said.

“The national government should have consulted the county because this [coal] project is being undertaken using Lamu resources.” Lamu senator Abu Chiaba said the leaders would demand that Amu trains at least 1 000 locals to be absorbed in the mega-project.

The proposed Lamu coal-fired power plant is part of the government’s plans to generate 1 920MW of electricity from coal by December 2017. More electricity is being tapped from geothermal wells (1 600MW), Liquefied Natural Gas (700MW), wind (650MW) and hydro (420MW).

–The Star