Thursday, September 12, 2024 - The government of President William Ruto has maintained that only the Adani Group can help Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) grow and expand.
This comes moments after the
aviation workers called off their strike after reaching an agreement with the
government over the Adani deal.
In a statement released on
Wednesday evening, the state maintained a partnership with the Adani Group was
necessary because of the growing traffic at JKIA.
"JKIA requires urgent
expansion due to increasing passenger and cargo traffic, with current numbers
exceeding its design capacity," the statement read.
The government anticipates a
surge in passengers and cargo at the JKIA in the next 30 years but insists it
is impossible to sustain plans to expand the airport without the intervention
of a private investor.
Kenya's main airport handles an estimated 8.6 million travellers annually, which is more than its 7.9 million capacity.
The government anticipates the figures could explode in the coming
years.
The proposed expansion is
estimated to cost over KSh 260 billion - a figure that the Kenya Kwanza
government insists is impossible to fund alone, especially after the
controversial Finance Bill was tossed out.
Earlier, government spokesperson
Isaac Mwaura sought to quell an online onslaught from irate Kenyans, saying the
Adani deal was in its infancy stages.
For the better part of Wednesday,
operations at the JKIA were at a standstill as workers downed their tools in
protest of the proposed deal.
Part of the reason aviation
workers resorted to industrial action was because of the government's apparent
ingenuity over the Adani deal.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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