In September, AfDB also approved a Sh84.7 million grant to enhance security at the airport/FILE
This is part of the emergency recovery measures undertaken by the government following the August 7 fire accident at the airport, which destroyed the international arrivals terminal.
According to AfDB’s Regional Director for the Eastern Africa Resource Centre, Gabriel Negatu, the financing is part of savings made from recently completed bank-financed projects funded under the concessionary window, Africa Development Fund.
“The interim terminal will be a 10,000 Square meters facility and will have a capacity to handle annual traffic of 2.5 million for international and domestic arriving and departing passengers. The total cost of the project is Sh2.35 billion. The Kenya Government will finance the difference,” Negatu explained.
In September, AfDB also approved a Sh84.7 million grant to enhance security at the airport.
The grant, which will be used to purchase and install security screening equipment at the airport, has been provided as an emergency assistance support under the bank’s Special Relief Fund. The grant will be disbursed in one tranche.
The equipment to be acquired under this grant includes eight walk-through metal detectors, eight check in x-ray machines and nine cabin x-ray machines.
Negatu confirmed that the security enhancement project will be implemented within the next six months.
“JKIA’s status as a regional aviation and economic hub of East Africa will be undermined by such situations as passenger inconveniences, inefficient operations and congestion. The bank’s supports, in addition to restoring the service level, will also help to bridge the capacity gap until the expansion projects are completed in 2017,”he said.
On average, JKIA handles more than six million passengers and about 300,000 tons of cargo annually.
The airport has scheduled flights to over 50 countries.
