The LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority (LCDA) has invited proposals from consultants for the development of detailed masterplan designs for the Lamu special economic zone (SEZ) on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast. The deadline is 23 May.

The SEZ is a key component of the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor Programme, which aims to connect Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan through a network of ports, highways, railways, pipelines, airports and resort cities. The cost of developing the infrastructure and economic corridor has been estimated at US$29 billion.

The LAPSSET Corridor forms part of the proposed Equatorial Land Bridge that will link the Lamu Port in Kenya to Douala in Cameroon. This bridge across Central Africa is planned to rival the Suez Canal, transporting cargo between the Indian and Atlantic oceans.

The Lamu SEZ will be situated on about 5,200 acres of land in Lamu county. The masterplans are expected to portray broad land use development scenarios characterised by a zone for industrial, trade, commercial, office and residential use among others. The development of the masterplans and prototypes will be based on a phased implementation framework.

Site of proposed Lamu SEZSource: LCDA

Initial studies undertaken by the LCDA indicate a demand for the following sectors within the Lamu SEZ: warehousing and logistics; automobiles; food and beverages; clothing; leather manufacturing; and lumber.

The scope of services to be provided by the consultant includes the land use masterplan; infrastructure masterplan; and environmental and social safeguards considerations.

The request for proposals can be viewed here.

In April, the LCDA invited bids by 3 May for the project to gravel roads within the first phase of the Lamu SEZ, with the scope including site clearance of an area measuring 40 hectares and work on about 17km of road.

The first joint technical committee meeting for the LAPSSET Corridor Programme was held in late January in Kenya, illustrating the footprint countries’ continued commitment to the project.

During the opening session of the joint technical committee, South Sudan’s director-general of road transport and safety Lado Tongun Tombe reported that priority projects had been identified within the framework of the LAPSSET programme and the South Sudanese government would endeavour to construct the road section from the border of Kenya to Juba and beyond.

Other key highlights from the meeting included consensus on the terms of reference for the governance structures, which would be recommended to the Ministerial Council, and initiating work towards establishing a regional coordination mechanism. The steering committee will oversee the overall strategy implementation and progress of the LAPSSET Corridor Programme.

The LAPSSET project includes two key elements: a 500-metre-wide infrastructure corridor, featuring international highways, a standard gauge railway, oil pipelines, power transmission infrastructure and Lamu deep-sea port; and an economic corridor spanning 50km on either side of the infrastructure corridor where projects including three planned international airports at Lamu, Isiolo and Lake Turkana, three resort cities and a refinery will be developed.

In an early May address on the LAPSSET programme, LCDA chairman Ali Mbogo said the LCDA is currently focused on building bypasses from Lamu to Garissa, Garissa to Isiolo and Isiolo to Moyale on the Ethiopian border, which would reduce the distance between Ethiopia and Lamu by 600km to a total of 1,000km.

Kenya Railways intends to complete the feasibility study and detailed design for its section of the LAPSSET standard gauge railway by 2026/27 and commence construction by 2027/8.

Funding for the project has yet to be secured, but is expected to be mobilised from government, development partners and potentially public-private partnerships.

The railway will run from Lamu to Isiolo within Kenya, Isiolo to Juba in South Sudan, Isiolo to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, and Nairobi to Isiolo within Kenya.

While the LCDA website puts the total cost to construct the railway and procure the rolling stock at about US$7.1 billion, Kenya Railways in its 2023-27 strategic plan estimates it will need about US$16 billion to construct the 2,377km section in Kenya.