By Billy Mijungu
The Lamu Port–South Sudan–Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor is one of Kenya’s most ambitious infrastructure projects. Yet, a more transformative vision would deliberately extend its northern reach through Garissa, Wajir and Mandera Counties, onward into Somalia, opening a new frontier for regional trade, economic integration and the development of Northern Kenya.
It is time to rethink LAPSSET as LAPSSSET, with the additional “S” representing Somalia. This is more than a change of name. It is a call to expand the corridor’s strategic vision, geographical reach and economic potential to embrace Somalia and unlock the development opportunities of Northern Kenya.
While the corridor was conceived to connect Kenya with South Sudan and Ethiopia, the inclusion of a strategic branch into Somalia would give the project a wider regional purpose. It would create an additional economic artery, unlock new markets and establish a continuous framework for planning the development of Northern Kenya.
The development of Northern Kenya must not remain an afterthought of national infrastructure planning. It must become a deliberate national investment priority.
Extending the corridor would help establish the foundational infrastructure necessary to transform the region. Roads, railways, water pipelines, oil and energy infrastructure, and modern logistics facilities could stimulate investment, lower the cost of doing business and connect communities that have historically remained distant from the country’s principal economic centres.
The empowerment of the Somali community and other populations across the arid and semi-arid lands would be a consequential outcome of this strategy. Infrastructure would create opportunities for trade, employment, industrial development, livestock value chains and cross-border commerce, enabling communities to become active contributors to national prosperity.
Water security must occupy a central place in this vision. Strategic dams, water harvesting systems and long-distance pipelines could support settlements, livestock production, agriculture and industry. Properly planned transport and energy networks would complement these investments, making economic activity viable in areas where water scarcity and distance have long constrained development.
Kenya should also consider establishing a modern desert city in Northern Kenya, designed around renewable energy, water security, logistics, agro-industrial processing, technology and regional commerce. Such a city would not merely be a settlement in the desert; it would be a planned economic hub capable of attracting private capital, creating employment and anchoring development across the northern frontier.
The proposed extension would require rigorous feasibility studies, security assessments, environmental safeguards, financing plans and diplomatic cooperation with Somalia. Its affordability should be established through comparative engineering and economic analysis, including the costs of additional infrastructure, maintenance and cross-border coordination. With phased implementation and appropriate public-private partnerships, the project could offer substantial long-term economic benefits.
The wider objective is to integrate the arid and semi-arid regions into Kenya’s national development architecture, not through isolated projects, but through a connected system of infrastructure, commerce, water security and productive investment.
Kenya has an opportunity to think beyond the conventional boundaries of infrastructure planning. LAPSSSET should be envisioned not merely as a transport corridor, but as a platform for regional integration, economic transformation and the opening up of an entire frontier.
A deliberate extension through Garissa, Wajir and Mandera into Somalia could be a masterstroke of strategic development, bringing Northern Kenya closer to the centre of national economic life while strengthening cross-border trade and regional cooperation.
The question is no longer whether more can be done in Northern Kenya. The question is whether we have the ambition to plan and build at the scale the region deserves.
