Demolitions loom as State unveils Sh56b JKIA terminal

By MACHARIA KAMAU

KENYA: President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed that all illegal structures around the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport be demolished. This is as Kenya embarks on its largest aviation infrastructure project, the Sh55.5 billion Greenfield Terminal.

Uhuru issued the directive when he broke ground for the proposed terminal, where construction works are expected to commence immediately. The project is scheduled for completion by 2017. The new terminal would increase JKIA’s capacity to more than 20 million passengers.

The President noted that doing away with encroachments around the airport and other key transport facilities including the railway and road reserves would secure travel in Kenya.

“We must, at all times, ensure safety and security of all our transport systems.  In this regard, I am directing the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure to ensure that all encroachments around our airports and other strategic transport and infrastructure installations are removed,” he said.

Economic Zone

Sections of the land set aside for the expansion of the airport has in the past been said to be irregularly allocated to individuals. The Kenya Airports Authority has in the past received stiff opposition from individuals that have built along the landing approach at JKIA, when trying to evict them.

Other than the areas surrounding JKIA, there are multi-storeyed buildings bordering the take-off point of the Wilson Airport runway. There are also many fast-growing slum areas that have cropped up near the Wilson Airport as well as traders and buildings that have been put up along railway and road reserves.

The owners always put up a fight — including seeking intervention from the courts through injunctions — whenever there are attempts to bring them down.

Uhuru also instructed the KAA to fast track a plan to set up a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) within JKIA that would host export-oriented manufacturing firms.

“I am aware that KAA plans to develop a SEZ within the airport area for the manufacture of goods that can be easily transported by air. I would like execution of these plans to be fast tracked,” he said.

The new terminal will significantly ease passenger and cargo handling at JKIA. Currently, the airport is by all standards overstretched, handling over 6.5 million passengers per year, more than three times its capacity of 2.5 million passengers. Airlines that use the airport, and in particular Kenya Airways, have in the past argued that its current capacity is a constraint to their growth.

Toll stations

Uhuru said the Government would make efforts to improve the infrastructure such that they are not an impediment in the growth of local airlines.

“The need to upgrade our airport is made even more urgent by the demand for its services by global airlines and in particular by our national carrier. Kenya Airways embarked on its ten-year business plan last year and we have witnessed their seriousness in increasing the number of aircraft they operate,” he said.

“My Government will, therefore, remain committed towards improving the existing infrastructure and providing an efficient, conducive and enabling environment to facilitate KQ and other local airlines to invest in order to create wealth and empower our people.”

The new terminal, which will be constructed by Chinese firms Anhui Civil Engineering Group and China Aero-Technology International Engineering Corporation, will have 50 international and 10 domestic check-in points and 40 contact and remote gates. It will also be serviced by a railway terminal as well as other public transport modes.

During the function, Deputy President William Ruto said there are plans to re-introduce toll stations on Kenyan roads as well as manage local transport infrastructure through concessions. In the arrangement, private firms would manage roads and other transport systems and in turn charge a fee to the users. Ruto said the fees collected would be used for infrastructure management as well as expansion.

“We plan to tap into concessioning as well as introduce road tolls as instruments to expand infrastructure… infrastructure is the single critical thing that will help us grow the economy by double digits and transform the wellbeing of Kenyans,” he said.