Kenya is now turning to China for the expansion of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport after the collapse of the controversial Adani deal.
This emerged on Tuesday after Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Affairs CS Musalia Mudavadi held talks with the leadership of Beijing Urban Construction Group (BUCG) ahead of President William Ruto’s State Visit to China.
“Kenya needs a modernized Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to strengthen its position as a leading hub for Eastern Africa and the continent at large. Ahead of H.E. President William Ruto’s State Visit, I met with Mr. Raymond Luo, President of BUCG International, Mr Harold Huang, General Manager of Marketing, and Mr. Wei Zhang, Vice President for Southeast Africa, to discuss their expertise in airport construction,” Mudavadi said on X.
He added that the BUCG delegation shared with him insights from their 42 years of experience building over 30 airport terminals, runways, and specialized aviation facilities worldwide.
“I encouraged them to submit their expression of interest as Kenya prepares to invite contractors for the upcoming JKIA expansion,” he said.
The Beijing-based construction company is currently rehabilitating regional airports in the neighbouring Tanzania, as well as the third terminal at Abeid Amani Karume International Airport in Zanzibar.
It was also the lead design team responsible for the main concourse covering 600,000sqm of world’s largest airport terminal at Beijing Daxing International Airport. It has worked on the third runway at Hong Kong International Airport,
It is also the company behind the upgrading of Velana International Airport in the Maldives.
In November last year, President Ruto ordered the cancellation of the planned Adani Group takeover deal of the JKIA.
Addressing a joint sitting of Parliament in his State of the Nation address, President Ruto said the cancellation of the unpopular deal followed new evidence by local investigative agencies and information from partner states that link the Indian conglomerate with corruption.”
“Accordingly, I now direct in, furtherance of principles enshrined in Article 10 of the constitution on transparency and accountability, and based on new information provided by investigative agencies and partner nations, that the procuring agencies in the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, immediately cancel the ongoing procurement process for the JKIA expansion private-public-partnership,” Ruto said.
The cancellation included signed an energy deal between Adani Group and the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company, Ketraco.
Consequently, the President directed the respective ministries to “immediately” begin onboarding new partners for the Public-Private Partnership initiatives given the importance of the projects.
