Kenya has reopened bidding for the modernisation of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport under a design-and-build contract structure, restarting a project shelved after the Adani Group deal collapsed, as Ethiopia breaks ground on a new airport near Addis Ababa designed to handle up to 110 million passengers a year. JKIA currently handles 8.8 million passengers annually against a design capacity it has already exceeded, with traffic forecast to reach 22 million by 2045.
- The State Department for Aviation and Aerospace Development issued a public notice calling for sealed bids under a design-and-build model, where a single contractor or consortium handles both architectural planning and construction, consolidating risk and potentially speeding delivery.
- The notice does not specify project cost, scope, or funding structure. Modernisation plans on record include a new terminal adding capacity for 10 million additional passengers, a second runway, expanded taxiways, upgraded cargo handling, new baggage systems, and air traffic control upgrades.
- The longer-term vision encompasses an airport city and special economic zone with hotels, business parks, and logistics hubs built around the facility.
- Ethiopia broke ground in January on a new international airport at Bishoftu, south of Addis Ababa, backed by Ethiopian Airlines’ balance sheet, the African Development Bank, and the US International Development Finance Corporation. The facility is designed for phased expansion to 110 million passengers annually.
- Kenya is also advancing a second gateway near Konza Technopolis, budgeted at KSh 264 billion and targeted to break ground in 2026, though analysts note the two projects could compete for the same finite pool of financing.
- Kenya’s fiscal position adds complexity: public debt has risen steadily and the Treasury’s proposed KSh 5 trillion National Infrastructure Fund, intended to mobilise capital for highways, railways and airports, remains at an early stage.
As Kenya Airports Authority confirmed last week, the Adani Group proposal has been formally cancelled with no back-door re-engagement, clearing the path for the current competitive tender. The design-and-build structure avoids the 30-year ownership transfer that triggered the public furore over the Adani deal, but it still leaves the funding question open. Kenya Airways, which has endured years of financial strain after over-ambitious fleet expansion in the 2010s, stands to gain the most from a modernised hub. Without it, the risk of ceding intercontinental transit traffic to Addis Ababa grows with every year Ethiopian Airlines expands its network.
The Bigger Picture: The race between Nairobi and Addis Ababa for East Africa’s primary hub is no longer theoretical. Ethiopia has financing, a state airline with the continent’s largest seat capacity, and a shovel already in the ground at Bishoftu. Kenya has a tender notice and a fiscal constraint. JKIA’s 8.8 million annual passengers against a design limit it has already breached puts the urgency in sharp relief. The design-and-build model is the right structure: faster, lower fragmentation risk, clearer accountability. But the model only works if Kenya can secure the financing. That is now the single most important question in East African aviation.
Source: Kenyan Wall Street
