‘JKIA Is Not On Sale’ – Musalia Mudavadi Claims Investors Will Finance Terminal Expansion
On Tuesday, Prime Cabinet Secretary (PCS) Musalia Mudavadi assured Kenyans that the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) was not for sale.
The PCS, who is also the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs, was responding to a question in the National Assembly about the government’s plan to hand over airport operations to private investors.
Mudavadi responded by revealing that the investors would be working under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to build an airport terminal.
Jomo Kenyatta international Airport is not on sale. pic.twitter.com/dg1Mwgc0iq
— Musalia W Mudavadi (@MusaliaMudavadi) July 23, 2024
“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.
“Anybody who is giving the impression that JKIA has been sold is not being factual.”
Mudavadi urged Kenyans to recognize that the international airport was in desperate need of improvement, necessitating the engagement of investors with the goal of modernizing it.
“We need a new terminal, there was a green terminal but it never took off, the contractual agreement had its challenges,” he explained.
The PCS noted that efforts to build a green terminal had been stalled due to litigation.
He suggested that the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) make all long-term engagements with private investors public in the future to avoid a repeat of the situation.
“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.
Mudavadi asked KAA to ensure that the PPP arrangement is carried out properly and thoroughly through the legal process so that every Kenyan is aware of what is happening.
“But I want to assure Kenyans that the JKIA is not for sale,” he emphasised.
The new terminal is expected to make JKIA one of the continent’s largest and busiest airports, serving 20 million passengers annually.
‘JKIA Is Not On Sale’ – Musalia Mudavadi Claims Investors Will Finance Terminal Expansion
