Kenya Airports Authority reacts to stinging criticism

(eTN) – Clearly stung by criticism over complaints about the visible delay on construction of the new terminal and other facilities, much needed to de-congest East Africa’s busiest hub – Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) – has the authority’s CEO reacted earlier in the week. “We have set aside some 10 percent of the project cost in our budget, enough to get us started,” he was quoted to have said in Kenya Airports Authority’s (KAA) defense when earlier on, allegations were made that the financing of the project had still not been finally secured and that construction was behind schedule.

A regular aviation source from Nairobi added: “KAA is misleading the public, and such statements only highlight the fact that they are hiding crucial information from us. The financing was due to have been signed and sealed by Q3 of 2011 and is still pending. It shows that KAA is run by political puppets, and it is time to retire them and inject new young professional blood into KAA.

“Our government is big in making announcements, but when it comes to the facts on the ground, JKIA remains a mess, is overcrowded, and under-facilitated. We all know what happened last year – power outages, construction problems, accidents like the boiler explosion, and so forth. They have for too long underestimated traffic growth, neglected the needs of the airlines operating from JKIA and slept while Kenya Airways (KQ) was expanding. KQ wants to double their fleet in a few years and triple it in the next 10 years. KAA has failed the national airline and has failed all airlines at JKIA.

“We have for years said we need a second runway, but again KAA has slept on their desks. Let us not talk of plans and intentions, we need reality now, we need concrete time frames, and we need assurance that the money has been secured. Ask any passengers during peak hours in the terminal and their comments are bad about their first or last experience when coming to Kenya.”