The proposal by India’s Adani Airport Holdings to takeover the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for a period of thirty years continues to generate heat and controversy. This is coming with varied opinions on whether Kenya should go ahead and ‘lease’ out the airport to the Indians or not.
In one of the opinions, lawyer Donald Kipkorir has reckoned that the proposal stinks to high heavens and is an affront to Kenya’s dignity.
“Ethiopia with a GDP of USD126 billion is building Africa’s biggest and modern airport for USD5 billion, which is cost of nearly 4 per cent of GDP. Rwanda with a puny GDP of a meagre USD14 billion is building the second most modern airport in Africa for USD2 billion, which is cost of nearly 14 per cent of its GDP. Both Ethiopia and Rwanda are building Africa’s future airports without losing their sovereignty, dignity, rights and return on investment,” said Kipkorir.
“Meanwhile, Kenya whose GDP is USD120 billion, Ethiopia having overtaken us, can’t build a new airport but instead wants Adani Group to build a new runaway for USD2 billion. Adani deal literally surrenders our JKIA to them for 30 Years,” he said.
Indian firm to ‘ban’ Kenya from building any other airport for 30yrs after JKIA takeover
Kipkorir went on to claim that the proposed deal is the equivalent of “State capture”. “The deal stinks to the high heavens. I have faith our High Court will find the contract null and void!”
When justifying the handover of the JKIA to Adani, President Ruto said during a townhall meeting in Mombasa that Rwanda and Ethiopia.
“The airport we have in Nairobi is made of canvas in the arrivals. This is a temporary structure we put up almost 7 years ago. Ethiopia, Rwanda have a brand-new airport. It is the reason why we need to work with investors to give us a new airport,” he said while refuting claims he is selling off the airport.
However, the proposal model from Adani is far from what Rwanda and Ethiopia have used to build their airports. In Rwanda, the Kagame government is building a brand new airport from scratch in an investment partnership with the globally renowned Qatar Airways Group.
In Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Airlines Group is planning a new airport that will be capable of serving 100 million passengers annually. The new airport will be located in Bishoftu, some 40 kilometres outside of Addis Ababa.