Nakuru County to revive stalled airport construction

By STEVE MKAWALE

Nakuru County: The Nakuru County government is working on plans to revive the construction of an international airport that stalled some years back following a row.

The project stopped following a dispute between the District Development Committee (DDC) and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).

Days before the fire incident at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Governor Kinuthia Mbugua had fixed an appointment with the Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) to discuss the project that the national government had allocated Sh250 million in the financial year 2011/2012. But the governor and his entourage never made the appointment.

They received news of the airport fire midway to Nairobi. However, the plans for the airport construction are still on the cards. Nakuru being only  two-and-a-half hour drive from Nairobi, Mbugua said KAA should start working on the project as agreed with the then DDC.

Decongest JKIA

He said the airport in the county would be convenient for travellers instead of relying on the facilities in locations like Mombasa, Kisumu or Eldoret in case of an emergency.

According to Engineer Joel Maina Kairu, the county’s minister for Roads, Transport and Public Works, they were concerned that the airport project that was initiated in February 2010 had stalled over unclear circumstances. “It was a coincidence that the fire broke out when the county was planning to revive the airport project to help decongest JKIA,” said the minister.

Eng Kairu said the county was in urgent need of air transport of international standards as it was strategically placed and will provide a vital link to other tourist towns like Narok, Laikipia and Samburu counties. “The airport is one of the key projects the Mbugua administration wants to implement,” he added.

Sources claim that KWS objected to the construction of the airport at the earmarked land on grounds that planes would interfere with migratory route of flamingoes.

According to Kairu, neither the county government nor the national government has any report indicating that the construction of an international airport in Nakuru might interfere with migration of flamingoes.