Friday, September 13, 2024 – President William Ruto’s Economic Advisor David Ndii has dismissed allegations that Adani paid a Ksh258 billion bribe to secure the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) revamp deal.
This is after a section of
online users alleged the company paid a Ksh258 billion bribe to convince top
government officials to hand it the deal.
Taking to his X account, the
economist argued that it was illogical for the Indian company to pay such a
huge amount of money for a deal that would last for over 30 years.
Ndii in his remarks claimed that
Adani Company had several investment options besides the JKIA deal and thus
could not pay such an amount of bribe to secure the JKIA tender.
“So Adani paid a $2b bribe! for
the JKIA deal. Why not invest the $2.6b in bonds at 5% and watch it grow to
$11b in 39 years,” Ndii charged.
“Let’s do the math. Adani
proposal is a $2 billion investment. 30% equity = $600. 18% equity return (ask,
actual will be less) = $108 p.a X 30 = $3.24b,” he added.
According to Ndii, Adani could
have made more money over the same period by merely investing in government
securities.
Ndii further stated that it was
impractical for the Indian company to pay such a bribe yet there were better
investment options in Kenya like KenGen whose market capitalization stood
at Ksh16.5 billion as of September 12.
"JKIA profit as is best
case scenario is Ksh2 billion per annum. KenGen which is a better company is
currently valued at Ksh16 billion," Ndii claimed.
Ndii while insisting on the
matter, underscored the need for a better airport particularly following the
recent backlash about the leaking roofs at JKIA.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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