A senator now wants the management of Kenya Airports Authority to explain how it entered into an alleged private deal to lease the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to an Indian firm, Adani Airport Holdings Limited.
Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka has petitioned the Senate Committee on Roads and Transport to issue a statement on how the purported deal was signed with Adani to operate JKIA under a build, operate, and transfer model.
“It is reported that KAA entered an agreement with Adani Commercial a private company to “build operate and transfer’ to lease JKIA. The purpose is to pay a fixed concession fee as will be agreed in the concession agreement,” he said in a request to the Senate Speaker Amason Kingi.
“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 per cent,” he added.
Mr Onyonka further claimed that as part of the deal, Adani would be entitled to set the charges it levies from airlines and other users for its services at JKIA.
“In the statement, the committee should provide the contract details of the project, citing the ownership of the Adani Commercial company, processes undertaken to identify and final award of the lease,” he said.
The legislator also demanded that the Senate committee provide details on the contract between and transaction advisor ALG, including the ownership of the company, processes undertaken to identify and final award of the contract to develop an Air Transport Policy in Kenya, and the subsequent payment of Sh160million to the firm.
“Furnish the Senate with the notice of meeting, agenda, minutes, and resolution of a board meeting convened by KAA on July 15, 2024, and state the reasons for government plans to avail free land to the company to build a city side development on public land which may lead to land issues in areas surrounding JKIA,” Mr Onyonka said.
With eight airports in its management and development portfolio, Adani Airport Holdings Limited is India’s largest airport infrastructure company, accounting for 25 per cent of passenger footfalls and 33 per cent of India’s air cargo traffic.
Both KAA and Adani did not respond to our queries on the alleged JKIA management deal.
A source at KAA however confirmed a series of meetings between Adani and top government officials in Kenya.
