Sh57b Lamu-Isiolo line next target, says Kenya Pipeline

Welder mounts in the trunk pipeline electrochemical protection. [Standard]

The Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) is kick-starting preparations for the construction of a 540-kilometre pipeline between Lamu and Isiolo.

KPC says it will start undertaking a study on the pipeline just as it completes the new Mombasa-Nairobi line.

The pipeline will be among the largest projects for the State-run company alongside the just-completed Sh48 billion Line 5, between Mombasa and Nairobi, which was plagued by delays and escalation of costs during its construction.

The refined petroleum products pipeline will be part of the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor - later to be extended to other parts of the country as well as beyond Kenyan borders, to Ethiopia.

Other projects on the corridor include a highway, railway and crude oil pipeline that will be used in moving oil from Lokichar to Lamu for export.

Given go-ahead

The Lamu Road Consortium (led by South African firms, Group Five Proprietary and the Development Bank of Southern Africa) has already been given the go-ahead to construct a 530-kilometre Lamu-Garissa-Isiolo road under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programme.

The first berths of the Lamu port are also under construction.

KPC said it would start doing a feasibility study for the pipeline between Lamu and Isiolo by end of this year.

Petroleum and Mining Cabinet Secretary John Munyes said the pipeline would be a ‘game changer’, opening up parts of the country that have for long been neglected and are devoid of infrastructure.

“We now need to undertake a study on a new pipeline from Lamu to Isiolo. That pipeline can open up the northeastern region and central parts of the country,” said Munyes last week when he received the first batch of petroleum products moved from Mombasa to Nairobi using the new pipeline.

While KPC is yet to make projections as to how much the Lamu-Isiolo pipeline would cost, the Lapsset Corridor Development Authority has previously estimated that the phase would cost Sh57 billion.

“We will do a study for the line. It has been part of our plans for some time. Now that it is a priority for the ministry, we will do it this year,” said KPC Chairman John Ngumi chairman.

According to the Lapsset masterplan, the pipeline that will be used to move imported products to the hinterland will reach Isiolo in the first phase and later be extended to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Lapsset Authority estimated that the pipeline will cost $885 million (Sh88.5 billion) of which $572 million (Sh57 billion) will construct the Lamu-Isiolo phase and Sh31 billion, the Isiolo-Moyale (450km) section.

Ethiopia is expected to foot the cost of taking the project to Addis Ababa from Moyale.

The pipeline, when complete, is expected to ease the flow of petroleum products to southern parts of Ethiopia, with another pipeline from the Port of Djibouti aimed at serving the northern parts of the landlocked country.

Ethiopia currently imports through Djibouti Port with recently enhanced relations with Eritrea expected to see the country get more options of getting goods in and out of the country.