Indications are that the first berth of the new Lamu Port is nearly ready for business, with other reports indicating that highway infrastructure to feed and evacuate cargo from the new berth is far from ready – an unfortunate mismatch of project planning and implementation.

The Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (Lapsset) corridor project was intended to link Lamu Port to South Sudan via a Lamu-Garissa-Isiolo-Lokichar-Juba highway and to southern parts of Ethiopia via the Isiolo-Moyale road which is already in place. For sustainable business at the new Lamu port the westward-bound highway will need to be constructed sooner than later.

The multi-project Lapsset corridor was justified on the wider and longer-term principle of socio-economic opening up of the under-developed northern parts of Kenya through communication, trade, and improved security management. It was justified on economic not financial returns, and the socio-economic benefits are already visible in Lamu County. Benefits to the other counties along the corridor will accrue only when the highway is linked westwards.

It was not the intention that the Lamu port competes for business with the Port of Mombasa and its captive Northern Corridor business. Further, the new SGR calls for maximum available cargo from Mombasa port. Using the Lamu port to trans-ship cargo which would otherwise be offloaded at Mombasa for the Northern Corridor appears inefficient and unlikely to pass tests in respect of costs from import ports to final importer location.

The Lamu port was predicated mainly on new business opportunities from the neighbouring South Sudan and Ethiopia and also from the counties along the Lapsset corridor. A good number of initial Laspsset study assumptions have definitely changed, and going forward reasonable changes to project planning will be required. But the main thrust and objective should mostly remain the direct and indirect socio-economic development of the northern counties.