KENYA. Kenya is to invest KES 1.8 billion (US$23 million) on the first phase of a modernisation programme aimed at redesigning Nairobi’s Jomo Kenya International airport (JKIA) and upgrading the city’s old Embakasi airport.
The World Bank will underwrite 80% of the cost of the project while the Kenya Airports Authority will raise the remaining amount.
The Ministry of Transport and Communication is expected to invite tenders for the consultancy and redesigning of Jomo Kenya airport’s terminal three unit and the old airport in the next four weeks.
Domestic flights are scheduled to move out of JKIA early next year, but the redesigning of T3 is expected to last until the middle of next year. Phase two of the project will entail creating a fourth terminal. The duty free shops at the airport are also to be moved, but that is likely to take time because of the legal ramifications regarding ownership.
A key part of the project, according to the Ministry of Transport, will be the separation of incoming and outgoing passengers – a move prompted by security concerns following 11 September 2001 – as well as the expansion and modernisation of facilities at T3, including a VIP lounge and dining facilities.
“For some time, JKIA was unchallenged as the aviation hub of the region,” said Ministry of Transport and Communication Secretary Gerrishon Ikiara. “But in recent times, space at JKIA has been shrinking steadily and the airport has not been able to operate efficiently as a hub for the region’s aviation industry.
“Other airports, notably Entebbe, Addis Ababa and Johannesburg – which is increasingly staking its claim as a dominant player in Africa’s aviation sector- have taken a sizeable chunk of our market share.”
The separation of incoming from outgoing passengers is also expected to make the airport secure and help earn the country a category one status under the US Federal Aviation Authority rules, enabling planes from JKIA to acquire landing rights in the US. At present, planes from the airport cannot land in the US.
Nairobi’s Jomo Kenya International airport, originally designed to handle 2.5 million passengers, at present handles three million passengers per year with T3 handling half a million.
According to the Transport Ministry, the airport will be able to handle about 4.5 million passengers by 2010. International flights account for more than 60% of air traffic.
