However, Mudavadi disclosed that the investors would be working under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) to construct a terminal in the airport.
Prime Cabinet Secretary (PCS) Musalia Mudavadi on Tuesday, July 23 assured Kenyans that the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi is not for sale.
The PCS who is also the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs was responding to a question in the National Assembly that the government wanted to hand over operations of the airport to private investors reportedly attached to an Indian firm.
However, Mudavadi disclosed that the investors would be working under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) to construct a terminal in the airport.
A roof under construction as passengers walk within Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on June 10, 2024. /LARRY MADOWO
“JKIA is not on sale. This is a public asset. It is a strategic asset and if it was going to be sold, you can only do it after a full public process that Parliament endorses,” he explained, adding “Anybody who is giving the impression that JKIA has been sold is not being factual.”
Mudavadi however asked Kenyans to appreciate that the international airport was overdue for a facelift, thus turning to investors to modernise the country’s main airport.
“We need a new terminal, remember that there was a green terminal but it never took off, the contractual engagement had its challenges,” he explained.
The PCS admitted that efforts to construct a green terminal were faced with litigations, thus the reason behind the stall.
Mudavadi added that going forward, the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) should make public all protracted engagements with private investors to avoid repeat speculations that JKIA was on the verge of being sold to private investors.
He further asked KAA to make sure the PPP arrangement is done properly and thoroughly through the legal process to ensure that every Kenyan knows what is happening regarding matters JKIA.
“Kenya Airports Authority must look at its investment program, very carefully, and make sure everything is transparent, so that during the expansion process of the second terminal,” he directed, adding “But I want to assure Kenyans that the JKIA is not for sale.”
The new terminal is expected to make JKIA one of the largest and busiest airports in the continent handling 20 million passengers annually.
Previously, Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka petitioned the Senate Committee on Roads and Transport to issue a statement on how a purported deal was signed between KAA and the Indian company to operate JKIA under a build, operate, and transfer model.
“The tenure of the model will be 30 years, where the assets developed through capital expenditure by the company will be transferred to KAA at the expiry of the concession term at a value determined and agreed by the parties, which value shall be structured to grant the company an equity of 18 percent,” he added.
Onyonka further claimed that as part of the deal, the firm would be entitled to set the charges it levies from airlines and other users for its services at JKIA.
