African Development Bank to Fund Lamu Port

By Aiswarya Lakshmi March 12, 2017

Efforts by the government to attract investors to help build 29 berths at the proposed Lamu port has received a boost from African Development Bank, said a report in The Star, Kenya.

The port has received a $1.9 million grant to cater for advisory services and technical support in developing a feasible plan for the port.

Last week, the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (Lapsset) Corridor has received $1.93 million from the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad).

Kenyan Transport Principal Secretary Irungu Nyakera said 20 per cent of the work has been completed and the government will set aside US$97.1mn to the port project in the coming fiscal year.

“The government is committed to finish the construction of a second port in Lamu to complement the port of Mombasa,” he said. Other than the construction of the three berths, other work going on in tandem include dredging of the channel, land reclamation, the building of a cofferdam and a causeway.

The port has 32 berths whose construction cost is estimated at $5 billion. The cost for the first phase of the project's three berths is estimated at $689 million.