Buy stake in proposed pipeline, urges Uhuru

Residents of Turkana County have been urged to convert their land ownership into shares in the proposed crude oil pipeline to earn dividends.

In a bid to stem opposition from the community that could delay the project’s construction and consequently oil production, President Kenyatta Monday asked leaders to ensure residents co-own it.

“Invest in the pipeline so that you have revenue that will help the community for a long time instead of asking for an up-front payment.

You can do this by contributing land as shares instead of selling it,” he told county leaders who met him at State House, Nairobi on Monday.

The delegation was led by Senate Speaker Ekwee Ethuro, Turkana County Governor Josphat Nanok and Senator John Munyes.

Others in the meeting were Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir, Principal Secretary Joseph Njoroge and Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport Corridor project chairman Francis Muthaura.

The proposed pipeline is among key infrastructure projects that are to be developed under the multi-trillion Lapsset programme and is meant to transport crude oil from Lokichar to a proposed refinery in Lamu once production starts.

Upfront compensation

Tullow Oil Plc, which is exploring for oil in Lokichar, is expected to submit a development plan showing how it intends to extract the resource from there by the fourth quarter of next year.

It estimates total oil discovery to be 600 million barrels with a potential of over a billion barrels.

The President’s directive is likely to cut the government’s burden in terms of compensating land owners along the path of the pipeline as it eliminates the need for upfront compensation.

It is also expected to generate interest for similar deals among other communities along the proposed line.