Focus on building our own pipeline

In the next few months, the country will start the process of scouting for a consultant to carry out an engineering design for a crude oil pipeline from Lokichar in Turkana to Lamu. The pipeline will begin from Kenya’s largest oil basin in Turkana and traverse the country and terminate at the coast

Kenya has decided to build its own pipeline after Uganda chose an alternative route through Tanzania. The neighbours will build a similar facility from Uganda’s oil fields in Lake Albert through Hoima and terminate at the port of Tanga. Although Kenya has announced that it will go it alone, there are reports that it is flirting with the idea of involving South Sudan in this venture owing to its vast oil reserves. We must encourage the government to work diligently and with speed to begin to benefit from its oil reserves as soon as it is practically possible. The mapping out of the route should not be hindered by short term business interests of individuals seeking compensation, because this may ultimate compromise the viability of the Lamu Port Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor project.

The East African region is beginning to demonstrate that it could emerge as a viable hub in which exports from crude oil and other forms of energy play a bigger role to supports local economies.

In anticipation of this possibility every effort must be made to develop the requisite infrastructure as the country prepares to become an oil exporting nation.