The Kenya Port Authority has revealed that the completion date of completion for the Lamu Port has been pushed from December of 2020 which was the date previously announced, to December 2021.
The chairman of the Kenya Ports Authority’s board; Joseph Kibwana, made it known that the contractor for the Lamu Port has asked for more time giving disruptions caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as the reasons for the requested extension.
The Kenya Ports Authority’s board chairman also added that the contractor had redrawn plans on how to adequately handle their workforce earlier in the year, as the coronavirus cases reached an all time high.
Construction work however continued at the Lamu Port even during the period when the coronavirus was at its highest. The construction work was however at a much slower rate.
The chairman of the Kenya Ports Authority’s board stated that the three (3) berths would be completed by October 2021 with the commissioning expected to be carried out in December of the same year.
The Lamu Port’s constructor also asked for more time with regards to the complete construction of yards in the second and third berths as the first berth was completed in October of 2019.
The second and third berths were finished in July of 2020, bringing the project’s total completion to 80 percent.
48 billion Kenyan Shillings has been the cost of the three (3) berths since construction first begin in 2016. They measure 1.2 kilometres long and 18 metres wide.
Each of the first three (3) berths can dock up to two (2) ships that measure 220 metres in length at the same time.
The Lamu Port, is part of the 2.5 trillion Kenyan Shillings Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (LAPSSET) project which Kenya aims to utilize in the boosting of regional integration via the connecting of Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia.
The Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (LAPSSET) project will feature special economic zones which will be suitable for Information Communication and Technology Parks, freight logistic hubs and industrial hubs.
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