Mega port plan faces another delay over lawsuit

Kenya’s High Court on Friday ordered a halt to the long-delayed development of a mega-port on the country’s northern coast for at least two weeks to allow a lawsuit lodged by local landowners over compensation to move forward.

The $25.5 billion project, known as the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) project, would eventually link landlocked countries South Sudan and Ethiopia to the Indian Ocean via Kenya and include a port, new roads, a railway and a pipeline. It was first conceived in the 1970s but has been gaining traction after commercial oil finds in Uganda and Kenya.

Judge Oscar Angote suspended the project and said the land compensation case would be heard on December 8.

—Reuters