Kenya to Start Work on New Northern Seaport

Kenya will start construction work next month on a long-delayed new port to be built on its northern coast, next to the historic trading town of Lamu, the presidency announced on Monday.

The Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) project is intended to include a port, new roads, a railway and a pipeline by 2030 that will give landlocked South Sudan and Ethiopia access to the Indian Ocean.

The overall price of the project, first proposed in the 1970s, has been put at $25.5 billion. Among the reasons for the delay are demands from landowners for greater compensation.

"Construction of the Lamu port begins next month, President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced," the presidency said in a statement, without specifying the scope of the work.

In 2013, officials said a consortium led by China Communications Construction Co Ltd had won a 41 billion Kenyan shilling ($449 million) contract to build the first three berths of the port. There has been little sign of activity since then.

The new port at Lamu has been cited as a possible oil export terminal after commercial oil finds in Uganda and Kenya. But the pipeline could also go to Kenya's main existing port, Mombasa.

"The new port, which is part of the Lamu Port Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor project, will provide an opportunity for the exploitation of the country's maritime resources," the president told a maritime conference.

Officials were not immediately available to offer more details.

By Edmund Blair