• Even the public and stakeholder participation plan has not been released.
• We are concerned about the scope of the proposal and the investment value, security of KAA employees’ jobs.
Image: HANDOUT
We need to see the actual contract between Adani Holdings and Kenya Airports Authority.
But even without seeing the contract, everything about it seems off. For a proposal given in March, and we are almost in August, it is disturbing the government has not made it public.
Even the public and stakeholder participation plan has not been released.
If I rely on the advertisement by Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi in the dailies, it alludes to an investment of Sh260 billion yet the same is not quantified.
It appears like they are seeking to build a brand new airport. The amount is thus not justified.
We are concerned about the scope of the proposal and the investment value, the security of KAA employees' jobs at JKIA and the concession fees to be paid to KAA if any.
JKIA needs something like the Greenfield terminal whose construction was suspended.
We don’t understand how the figure has escalated to now read Sh260 billion. The capability of the proposed Adani Holdings and the due diligence conducted on them, especially on integrity, is questionable.
For now, therefore, it looks like it is not a well-organised plan. We are, however, waiting for the document to be released officially so that we engage KAA, and the ministry properly, as everything about it feels off.
We are almost 10-15 years behind in terms of development of JKIA. KAA itself has problems. With an outdated legal structure, it operates on a 33-year-old law that doesn’t cover the industry concerns.
JKIA is also outdated in many ways. Its design of 1978 was to last 25 years. We are playing catch-up.
The fire in 2013 is what led to the terminal’s expansion. They were not keen to build it but were responding to the fire.
Terminals 1A, 1B, and 1C were to be used for two to five years.
By 2018, they had surpassed their utility. The Greenfield terminal would have worked very well but we got it wrong completely.
To put up the requisite terminal and runway, we were looking at not more than Sh70 billion. How the new plan comes to Sh260 billion is, therefore, questionable.
Aviation consultant spoke to Star