NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 19 – The government has disbursed a total of Sh860 million to compensate the people whose land have been acquired for the Lamu Port Project site.
The amounts were transmitted on Thursday through the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) process directly to 154 Project Affected People (PAP) accounts.
Lamu Port Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) CEO Silvester Kasuku says the funds were transferred by the National Land Commission (NLC) after it received a total of Sh1.3 billion from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.
“The amounts had been set aside by the LAPSSET Corridor Project after several provisions were made in the government Budget beginning from 2013 and had been banked with the Kenya Ports Authority,” he said.
The PAPs whose monies have not been transmitted include those who don’t have bank accounts and those with disputes of sharing compensation funds.
Kasuku however says the NLC will assist those without bank accounts to open accounts immediately to enable the commission to make payments them directly.
“The NLC and the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development will move with speed to assist families with disputes to resolve them so as to give way for the closure of the Compensation issue,” Kasuku said.
Ground breaking for the first three berths of Lamu Port is scheduled to be undertaken immediately once compensation is completed within the first quarter of the year.
Kasuku says the implementation of the LAPSSET Corridor Project is currently registering good progress with the construction of 1000km between Isiolo-Marsabit-Moyale (505km in Kenya) and Moyale-Hawasa (500km in Ethiopia) currently ongoing under 10 simultaneous contracts.
The construction is funded by the African Development Bank, the Government of Kenya, the Government of Ethiopia and the European Investment Bank among others.
“Design works are currently being undertaken for the road between Lamu-Garissa-Isiolo-Nginyang with the funding from African Development Bank and Government of Kenya and the section between Nakodok-Lodwar to Kitale has been funded by World Bank and the Government of Kenya.”
