Adani: We learnt of JKIA's poor status through Kenyan media

In a reply affidavit to a petition filed by Davis Malombe, Alok Patni, an authorised signatory of Adani Airport Holdings Ltd, explained that several articles, both print and online, published by media outlets highlighted the poor state of JKIA, East Africa's largest airport.

This included a poor state of the airport's lavatories, a lack of clean water, congested waiting bays, consistent power failures, a failing backup generator in the event of power outages, poor workmanship, and the airport's inability to handle constantly increasing traffic.

The Indian conglomerate was responding to questions about how it learnt of the government's plans to refurbish the airport and submitted a Privately Initiated Proposal (PiP) before the bid was publicly advertised.

"The respondents also noticed several news articles in 2019 and 2020 regarding constant protests and demonstrations by workers from various departments at JKIA lamenting the poor working environment, infrastructure, and remuneration," Patni stated. 

"The above articles are just but a few of the several news articles that were spread across the world regarding the poor infrastructure at JKIA and called for the urgent need to improve the status of JKIA to a world class airport. The articles are available online."

Given its interest in the aviation sector, Adani sought to invest in JKIA's improvement, submitting a proposal on March 1, 2024, to the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA). 

According to Adani, they provided all the required pre-approval documents including tax compliance documents, which are currently in review. 

"I confirm that the project is still at the review and due-diligence stage, and the averments by the applicants that the JKIA airport has since been leased for 30 years is premature and is an outright misrepresentation of facts," Patni added.

The Indian company asked the courts to dismiss Malombe's petition, arguing that the PPP Petition Committee, established under Section 75 of the PPP Act, has the authority to hear any dispute from a PiP.

Further, Adani argued that the petitioner failed to exhaust the dispute resolution mechanisms before heading to court.