Business
Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan launch construction of massive port
Presidents Mwai Kibaki, South Sudan’s Salva Kiir Mayardit and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi lay foundation for the new port. PHOTO/Daily Nation
Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan launched the construction of a massive port, railway and refinery Friday near a UNESCO-listed Indian Ocean island in a project it bills as the biggest ever in an African nation.
Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir unveiled a plaque in a ceremony to mark the official start of building work near Lamu island in Kenya’s southeast.
“I have no doubt that this day will go down in history as one of the defining moments, when we made a major stride to connect our people to the many socio-economic opportunities that lie ahead,” Kibaki said.
The project will provide the “landlocked countries of our region with a direct and dependable route to the sea” and help connect “the entire east and central African region to international markets,” he added.
Nairobi hopes the US$24.5 billion scheme will turn the east African country into a regional economic hub and propel it to become a middle-income economy in the next two decades.
Dancers and singers marked the formal start of construction at the inauguration at the Indian Ocean shore where pristine mangrove forest is already being chopped down and cleared.
The port to be constructed with 32 berths and be connected to Ethiopia and oil-rich South Sudan by a super-highway, a railway and a pipeline to export Juba’s crude.
“We look forward to extend our full cooperation to make sure that this project is brought to full fruition,” said Meles, calling the launch an “historic event.”
