The Kenyan goverment’s plan to build a new port, oil refinery and transport hub on Kenya’s northen coastline is a promising project that will create a mulittude of new jobs.
There were however some concerns rasied over the project which has some people questioning the government’s plan on handling these matters. One of the issues raised was the fact that many people in the Lamu district will be displaced from their homes. “This project will displace many people from their homes… yet the government is not very clear on what plans they have for those who will be displaced,” Abubakar-Al Amudi, chairperson of Save Lamu, a coalition of organizations dedicated to saving the Lamu Archipelago from environmental destruction, told IRIN. When complete, the project, known as the Lamu Port and Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET), is expected to provide a gateway to the Horn of Africa region. It is set to include building a port in Lamu’s Manda Bay; a standard-gauge railway line to Juba, South Sudan’s capital; oil pipelines to South Sudan and Ethiopia; an oil refinery; three airports; and three resort locations in the Kenyan towns of Isiolo and Lamu and at the shores of Lake Turkana.
The government has set aside 1000 acres of land to accomplish the Lamu port project.
