Transport Cs Davis Chirchir Explains Why JKIA Needs A foreign Investor

Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir has explained why the  government needs to outsource a foreign  investor to help in the upgrade of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

According to Chirchir who acknowlededged JKIA's fault revealed that Kenya’s major hinderence towards modernising the  International Airport is due to financial constraint

“The challenge that we have faced over time from early days in 2012 when we wanted to put up the Green Field Terminal has been with funding,” he said recounting embarrasing moments at the facility.

“We do all agree that we need a new airport, we need a new investment, a facility that can boost our dimension and receive up to four million visitors like in other developing countries,” he stated.

The Cs cited the need to upgrade, modernise and make the facility  competitive bearing in mind its postion as a major aviation hub in the region .

To achieve this the government of Kenya has already engaged an Indian firm-Adani Group-to redevelop the facility, a move which many dont agree with.

Chirchir also disclosed that the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Act, he stated, allows the government to enter into such agreements with private investors to undertake some key infrastructural projects termig Adani’s proposal a Privately Initiated Proposal (PIP) noting that before they okay such deals, they negotiate on crucial parameters, especially on the return to equity to be allowed.

“We negotiate on the debt-equity ratio, ordinarily equity is expensive and because of this we do not want the equity ratio to be significantly high,” he  added.

The initial design capacity of JKIA was to serve about 2.5 million passengers per year but over the years this has grown to over 6.5 million.

The aircraft movement (ATM) has also increased to reach over 72,700 aircraft per year.

It is predicted to reach over 195,000 aircraft per year by the year 2030.