The Kenya Airports Authority has termed as exaggerated, the backlash on Jomo Kenyatta International Airport over power blackouts.
The KAA Acting Managing Director Henry Ogoye noted that they have adequate power backup at the airport to serve all the facilities in case of a blackout.
Ogoye stated that the airport has a 13-megawatt power backup against a requirement of below 5 megawatts to power the entire airport in the event of a blackout.
He stated that the only challenge was the time taken for the changeover from the Kenya Power mains to the backup, stressing that already there were efforts to address the issue.
"The power situation at JKIA is being exaggerated. What Kenyans are concerned with is the time it takes to changeover, we have capacity. We are looking at ways and means of automating it fully so that it kicks in at the required time," he said.
Ogoye assured that the issues will be resolved once and for all, adding that there was a team of engineers on the ground working on the issue.
"This matter will be resolved once and for all, the team was there yesterday, today and even tomorrow they'll still be around to ensure this matter is resolved."
Addressing the media in Kisumu during the KAA Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards Ceremony and Dinner, he assured that all of the other airports being managed by KAA have adequate power backup and there was no cause for alarm.
For three times this year, the airport has been affected by blackouts as the country experienced a national power outage paralyzing services at sections of the airport.
After the blackouts on December 10, KAA in a statement had said that two of JKIA's four backup generators failed to supply power.
KAA said two generators supplying power to terminals 1A and 1E which experienced a blackout for several minutes before power were fully restored.
"Over the past week, our generator system at JKIA has undergone rigorous testing to ensure continuous and reliable power supply. Despite these efforts, during tonight's power outage, two of our four generators, specifically those serving Terminal's 1A and 1E, failed to activate," the Authority said.
"Our technical team responded swiftly to the situation and we are pleased to report that the fault has been rectified quickly. Power was fully restored to the affected terminals."
