South Sudan handed 10 acres for Naivasha port

Kenya will allocate land to South Sudan for construction of a dry port at the Naivasha special economic zone, making it the second country after Uganda to gain from the inland container depot.

President Uhuru Kenyatta said 10 acres will be given to South Sudan at the Naivasha Industrial Park to ease the movement of goods to the neighbouring nation.

The port will see South Sudan cut the journey that it makes to Mombasa to collect and clear goods destined to Juba.

“To further ease the movement of goods consigned to South Sudan, the Kenya government has set aside 10 acres of land at the Inland Container Depot in Naivasha Industrial Park, for use as a dry port by South Sudan,” said President Kenyatta.

The agreements were announced Monday at State House, Nairobi, after bilateral talks between Mr Kenyatta and the visiting South Sudanese president Salva Kiir.

The Sudanese leader is in Kenya on a two-day visit.

In March this year, the Kenyan government announced that it will give land to Uganda for construction of the dry port in Naivasha.

Uganda is the biggest market for Kenyan goods and the biggest client to the Port of Mombasa, especially for transit cargo, ahead of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan and Rwanda.

Mr Kenyatta said Kenya was fast tracking the completion of the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia (LAPSSET) projects, including transnational highways, oil pipeline and the Lamu Port, among others, to link the two countries.

“The first berth (of the Lamu Port) will be ready this August while Berths 2 and 3 are expected to be completed within the year 2020. I will invite Your Excellency, with other regional leaders, to inspect the Lamu Project in due course,” he said.

Mr Kenyatta said Kenya and South Sudan will put more efforts in completing transnational highways, including the Eldoret-Lokichoggio-Nadapal-Kapoeta-Torit-Juba Road.

“In pursuit of our shared vision to deepen further our cooperation, it is important we fast track the implementation of the LAPSSET Corridor Highway,” Mr Kenyatta said.

To deepen trade ties, Mr Kenyatta announced that Kenya will hold a trade expo in Juba this year.