KAIKAI’S KICKER: JKIA - Who will eat the new airport?

On my kicker tonight, a huge cloud of controversy hangs over a deal offered to Adani group, an Indian company, by the government to upgrade and expand the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). Various reports indicate that it is a done deal that will see Adani group build, operate and develop the JKIA for a period of 30 years at a cost of USD 2 billion; that is roughly Ksh.260 billion.

Now, let us get the one non-contestable issue out of the way. The JKIA is badly in need of an overhaul; in fact, a complete makeover. Touted as a regional hub, the Nairobi international airport has fallen behind the times and is today one of the most embarrassing stops to be inflicted on any traveler, let alone Kenyans making the inevitable return home. Compared to the Julius Nyerere Airport in Tanzania, Bole in Ethiopia and even the Kigali Airport, JKIA is a station of lost glory and a monument of what used to be.

On the aggregate, it is in no position to compete with new or refurbished international airports around the region. Undeniably, our neighbours have been more visionary and swift in rolling out plans that could reduce Nairobi’s regional hub slogan to mere hubris. In Rwanda, an ultra-modern international airport is taking shape in Bugesera, south of Kigali; and when complete, Jomo Kenyatta in its current state would have no reply. The new Rwandan airport is being touted as a masterpiece in strategic partnerships; with Qatar, a global aviation giant, playing the supporting role in both the development of the new airport and future operations of the Rwandan national airline, Rwandair.

Bugesera International Airport will cost USD 2 billion; the same amount quoted by the Adani group for the upgrade of the Jomo Kenyatta airport. But controversy dogs the Adani deal, with the Kenya aviation workers union questioning the hidden details of the deal. A heavy stench of impropriety hangs over the Adani deal with questions mounting on issues ranging from the non-competitive bidding process to the ongoing and rather strange after-the fact due diligence. It has not helped matters either that government has been perceived as less than transparent on the Adani deal. When claims emerged through social media that the airport had been leased to a foreign entity, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi denied the claims, telling MPs that due process would be followed if such an arrangement was to be pursued. And responding to questions at a recent townhall, President William Ruto said JKIA is a strategic national asset that will not be put on sale.

In the coming days, such assurances and more information on the Adani deal will be necessary. This is because Kenyans are generally haunted and scarred by mega-projects. They have had traumatic experiences with the private greed and personal interests that attend to such mega, supposedly public projects. And their heightened sense of doubt and suspicion over the Adani deal is not misplaced. This is after all the same Kenya of an SGR railway line that hit a dead end in a Maasai land thicket; this is the same Kenya of massive, historic hydropower Arror/Kimwarer imaginary dam; the same Kenya of a fishy expressway deal; and the Kenya of Galana Kulalu mega irrigation scheme and many ultra-modern stadiums.

So, please understand their trauma. And whether they will have a new airport or not, their greatest question right now is – who’s deal is Adani deal and who will eat the new airport?