Skip to main content

East Africa’s massive infrastructure development programme

A massive programme of infrastructure development is planned for East Africa that will help develop transport links and boost economic development. The projects will be implemented in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda. Roads and highways will be built and upgraded while new port facilities will be built. Also included in the programme will be an oil pipeline, rail links and fibre-optic cable installation. In all the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor project for East Africa wi
September 23, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
A massive programme of infrastructure development is planned for East Africa that will help develop transport links and boost economic development. The projects will be implemented in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda. Roads and highways will be built and upgraded while new port facilities will be built. Also included in the programme will be an oil pipeline, rail links and fibre-optic cable installation. In all the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor project for East Africa will cost in the region of US$24.7 billion.

The plans also call for the transport corridor to stretch right across the continent, connecting to the West Africa. The transport links would run to the cities of Douala-Lagos-Cotonou-Abidjan Corridor and given Nigeria’s economic strength amongst the West African nations in particular, this would be of enormous economic benefit to Africa as a whole.

The programme has received both regional and international support and was discussed in detail at the 2015 African Union general assembly.

One of the projects involves developing port facilities at Lamu in Kenya, with the work being carried out by the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC). This $479 million project will relieve the strain that Kenya’s port of Mombasa currently faces in that its existing facilities are running close to capacity.

Related Content

  • Three year programme for Ethiopia road projects planned
    January 18, 2017
    A new programme of works planned by the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) will see the upgrading and surfacing of 372km of roads in the country. The ERA signed a series of contracts with a number of construction firms, both from Ethiopia and from overseas. The firms that will handle the road building activity are; Ethiopian Defense Construction, China Railway Engineering, China Wuyi, Eney Construction, Yotek Construction and FAL General Contractor. The programme of works is worth close to US$289 million in al
  • Building capacity on data in African nations, Tanzania and Senegal
    May 21, 2019
    Improving road safety is a key development priority for Africa
  • Pan-European move
    July 19, 2012
    CECE covers all of the EC and is pushing hard for further investment in infrastructure construction as a means to revitalise the economy. “Our industry looks forward to the implementation of the right policies and incentives to nurture sustainable growth and jobs”, said Ralf Wezel, CECE secretary general. CECE and the European contractor’s association FIEC believe that investment in transport is essential for growth and jobs. To strengthen European competitiveness, delivery of this much needed investment mu
  • Riga's transport infrastructure system to get a boost from EU funding
    February 11, 2014
    The European Union will support with over €1.5 million from the TEN-T Programme a series of studies looking at the connection of the Freeport of Riga in Latvia to the TEN-T road network. The studies, selected under the 2012 TEN-T Annual Programme, specifically concern the detailed design needed ahead of the construction in 2016 of a 9.1km stretch (Segment 1) of the Riga Northern Transport Corridor (Northern Corridor). The Northern Corridor is an east-west motorway which will cross the old historic town ce