In 2023, Kenyans were shocked by incidents of power blackout and leaking roofs at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). In multiple occasions when the country experienced shameful national blackouts, the backup generator system at the JKIA failed to kick in, subjecting the country to very embarrassing moments.

These JKIA back-up generators failure, coupled with leaky roofs, have been cited as some of the reasons why the airport infrastructure needs to be leased out to an Indian firm known as Adani Airport Holdings for a period of 30 years. The Adani Airport Holdings has already submitted a controversial proposal for the takeover of the JKIA that has attracted a lot of heat, criticism and opposition.

As the debate rages on, one Kenyan engineer, Rodgers Adai, has offered insights on what he found during when he examined the JKIA power back up system on behalf of a third party, and how the whole mess could have been avoided.

Here is what he said:

“During one of the national blackouts, JKIA was plunged into darkness because the Backup Generators did not pick up. It has happened several times and even one CEO was fired. [A third party] called me to go and have a look and advice. It was a simple problem. Changeover Circuit design. They would required just 5 days work to re-redesign and commission.

But I pulled out when I realized the people driving the process did not understand the problem and we’re more interested in solving it by providing more generators. The JKIA load was 4.5MVA and the standby Generators were 2 x 4MVA total 8MVA which was double the load, far more than enough. But later, I heard there were Generators to be supplied to every terminal, which I thought was absurd. The main problems in JKIA are just a symptom of what is happening everywhere else.

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The advent of non professionals making decisions; in particular, the introduction of Procurement Rules which have sidelined users. Today the Professional is the Procurement Manager. The national blackouts we are experiencing is part of that problem. Back to JKIA. These are my observations: The Engineering department is almost non existent.

The engineering staff had no exposure in the Control Schemes. They were reduced to observer status. At the time of the visit, I met people working on the standby Generator controls who I thought were JKIA staff only to be told they were from the Vendor!! The Engineers from JKIA were not participating. When I asked them for the changeover scheme, they had no drawing!!

Looks like deals are done by the procurement level with very little control and involvement of the Users. The JKIA is just like a shopping mall. The Runway is just a Tarmac Road with higher compacting levels. So what is this that we need Adani for?? All we need is to rebuild the Engineering Dept to professional level. It will only require salaries.”