Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura has come to the defense of Adani Airport Holdings Limited, an Indian infrastructure company set to revamp Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
During a press briefing on Thursday, Mwaura praised Adani for its strong track record in India and expressed confidence in the company’s capability to modernize the airport effectively.
“We need to embrace change moving forward, and that is why we require a strategic partner. I can say without any doubt that Adani has an excellent investment record in India and elsewhere,” Mwaura stated.
Mwaura pointed out that the $1.85 billion (Kes.242 billion) investment deal would tackle several pressing issues at JKIA, including renovations of the terminals, runways, and the aging roofs that leak during heavy rains.
“The facility was designed to handle 7.5 million passengers, but last year we accommodated 8.6 million. With the planned upgrades, we could increase capacity to around 10 million passengers,” he noted.
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He elaborated that temporary tents set up near the runways have exceeded their 10-year lifespan, leading to leaks during rainfall.
“We put tents that were next to the runways, they had a 10-year period, it’s now over nine years that is why they are leaking, they cannot sustain. They’ve also made a proposal to refurbish and create new electricity lines so that we don’t have the power outages because of the fact that the current lines cannot carry the load that is why we have load shedding everywhere,” Mwaura explained.
Mwaura stressed the importance of welcoming external players to finance the country’s development. He acknowledged that, amid a significant cash crunch, Kenya must seek foreign financial support to achieve its ambitious development objectives.
“You will see more of these partnerships. We will pursue more public-private partnerships (PPPs) and private investment projects (PIPs) to explore refinancing options for our development efforts, as borrowing is becoming increasingly difficult,” he stated, assuring that “nobody will be adversely affected, including workers. I can assure you it will be handled in a proper manner.”
