LAPSSETT Director General Silvester Kasuku has dismissed claims that the Lamu Port project will be rendered obsolete with the newfound Ethiopia-Eritrea friendship.
Some analysts claim that the thaw in relations between the two nations will enable Ethiopia use Eritrea's Assab and Massawa ports and thus diminish Addis Ababa's interest in the yet to be built Lamu port. Besides the Eritrean ports, Ethiopia also has the option of using ports in Djibouti city in Djibouti and Hargeisa in Somaliland.
It is also believed that South Sudan is also exploring possible use of Eritrea's ports through Ethiopia which has alarmed Kenyan authorities amid reports Uganda which is the largest importer through Mombasa port is seeking to diversify its options in Tanzania.
But on Thursday, Kasuku argued that despite the reconciliation between Eritrea and Ethiopia the latter still has need for the proposed Lamu port. He says the project was conceived with many beneficiaries and intentions in mind for the future beyond Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Kasuku said Kenya will still forge ahead in spite of the pessimism injected by some observers on the Lamu Port project.
“You need to understand that the Ethiopian market especially in its southern region is huge, and that is the market that Lamu port has always been targeting,” the LAPSSET official said.
He added that Southern Ethiopia with its population of 50 million people will be best served by the Lamu port in comparison to the Eritrean or Djibouti port that Ethiopia is currently using.
He also said that the LAPSSET project is meant to open up the Northern Corridor which includes Northern Kenya and partly South Sudan for whom the project is invaluable.
“The Lamu port project is a regionally accepted project whose aim is to connect the countries within the east African region through trade and logistics,” Kasuku noted.
He said that of note that maritime and logistics as a sector is growing in the region and that it would be a great disservice to the region if the region is served by fewer ports.
