Gov’t unveils fresh plan to expand JKIA after Adani deal collapse

The government has officially unveiled a fresh plan to expand the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), months after cancelling a controversial multi-billion shilling deal with India’s Adani Group.

Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir says the new facility will ease congestion and increase passenger and cargo capacity.

A new tender has been advertised, inviting investors to participate in the construction and upgrading of the JKIA.

The project includes the construction of a new passenger terminal and upgrading the existing facilities.

The master plan and feasibility study, which was completed last month, will see the expansion of runways, terminals, aircraft parking, and access roads to ease congestion.

“We are out competitively advertising for interested bidders to come in today. And when we close the bids there are PPDA rules on opening of bids, evaluation processes that will be in line with the law and so on and so forth,” said CS Chirchir.

“So, basically you cannot stop Kenyans from speculating and that is why I am here today as minister for roads and transport to assure Kenyans of the process that we have initiated, I’ve shown you the documents. We have been working on this master plan since February last year.”

The airport currently handles about nine million passengers, exceeding its original design capacity of 7.5 million. Incremental expansions over the years have created operational bottlenecks across airside, terminal, and landside systems.

Passenger numbers are expected to increase from 9 to over 22 million with cargo volumes expected to rise from 407,000 tonnes in 2025, to over 860,000 tonnes by 2045.

Without expansion, authorities warn that efficiency, safety, and the airport’s competitiveness could be compromised.

“We’ll really work around the clock to ensure we deliver the new airport within three years,” added Chirchir.

The new expansion, which comes months after collapse of a proposed deal with India’s Adani Group reportedly valued at more than Ksh.200 billion, will also include upgrades to the existing runway, construction of a partial parallel taxiway, and additional rapid exit taxiways to improve aircraft movement.

A new terminal is planned to handle an extra 10 million passengers annually, with provisions for future expansion.

“What we will be doing is that parallel to the new airport we will be working on an optimization upgrade of the current facility within 15 months, so that within 15months the current facility will be able to uptake upto 12 million customers,” stated the CS.

The project also envisions an Airport City and a Special Economic Zone around JKIA, creating an integrated hub for logistics, trade, manufacturing, and business services.

The tendering phase is now open, marking the start of one of the country’s most closely watched infrastructure projects.