Mudavadi refutes claims JKIA is up for sale

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has said the government has no plans to sell Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

While appearing before the Budget Committee of the National Assembly on Monday, Mudavadi said the government is only keen on ensuring the facility is modernized to cement the aerodrome’s position as an aviation hub in the region.

“This is a public asset, this 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. anybody who is giving the impression that JKIA has been sold is not being factual. It not true,” said Mudvadi.

According to Musalia, Kenya needs a new terminal which should be actualize through a properly arranged Public Private Partnership.

The government abandoned the ambitious Ksh 56 billion Greenfield Terminal whose groundbreaking ceremony took place in 2013 before being abandoned over cost, contractual disagreement in 2015.

The terminal was projected to help JKIA handle at least 20 million passengers annually.

“Going forward the Kenya Airports Authority must look at its investment programme very carefully, make sure that everything is transparent so that during the expansion process of the second terminal if its under PPS arrangement, let it be done thoroughly through the legal process so that everybody knows what is going on,” he told legislators.

There have been reports that the government is planning to offload the facility to private hands through its privatization programme that has seen it divest from at least dozen firms.

Mudavadi further says the government’s long term strategy is to make Nairobi a logistics hub that will see JKIA interlinked with Mombasa port and to Naivasha port.