The Principal Secretary State Department of Infrastructure Julius Korir @JKorir_Roads & KeNHA Director General Eng. Peter Mundinia inspect ongoing construction of Garsen - Witu - Lamu Road. The road is approximately 113 kilometres and covers Tana River and Lamu Counties.
One is distance as you have mentioned, the second is the regional temperature. Djibouti, Asmara, Port Sudan and Somaliland port which Ethiopia is considering or using are all based in a region of hot climate. This is important in one lucrative port market segment, chemicals importation. Right now Ethiopian companies are spending a lot of money in refrigerated containers or cooling their shipments through Djibouti where the temperature hovers 40°C. They will shift to Lamu which averages 35°C and truck it to Isiolo, Moyale to Addis Ababa.