Adani Airport Holdings Limited has announced that it remitted a review fee of $50,000 (approximately Ksh. 6.47 million) to the Kenyan government as part of its ambitious $1.85 billion (Ksh. 242 billion) initiative to revamp the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi.
In recent court documents, the Indian infrastructure corporation, a division of the Adani Group, confirmed that this payment was made to the Public Private Partnerships Facilitation Fund, in conjunction with the submission of essential paperwork for its contentious privately initiated proposal (PIP) to the Kenyan authorities.
“Following the submission of the PIP, the fifth respondent (Adani Airport Holdings Limited) duly paid a review fee of $50,000 to the Public Private Partnership Facilitation Fund as mandated by law,” the company stated through its legal representatives.
“The fifth respondent has submitted all essential pre-approval documentation, including corporate incorporation papers, tax compliance certificates, and financial records, to assist the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Directorate, in collaboration with the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), in conducting their due diligence on the proposal.”
This statement comes from a replying affidavit filed by the company on Tuesday, September 17, in response to the legal action initiated by the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) on September 9, which aims to halt the agreement.
Adani asserts that the Kenya Airports Authority acknowledged receipt of the Project Implementation Plan (PIP) on March 18, stating that it had approved the project to advance to the development phase, specifically the feasibility study phase. Following this, the company provided a feasibility study report detailing the project’s environmental and social impacts, its financial strategy, and explaining how the Kenyan public will benefit from the PIP project.
Furthermore, Adani submitted a preliminary operational plan for the initiative, noting that the report confirmed the project’s alignment with national infrastructure priorities and its objective of addressing the long-standing infrastructure issues at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
Court documents indicate that the Indian company maintains the project remains in the review and due diligence phase, countering claims from KHRC and LSK that JKIA has been leased to a foreign private entity for 30 years, which they describe as a distortion of the truth.
In their arguments, LSK and KHRC contend that Kenya’s busiest airport has been sold to an overseas private firm without sufficient consultation or transparency.
In court documents filed on Tuesday, Adani expressed that it became aware of the declining state of JKIA through reports from Kenyan media. As a response, the company aimed to invest in enhancing the airport’s facilities, submitting a proposal to the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) on March 1, 2024.
Last November, former Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen hinted at plans for a refurbishment of JKIA, although he did not provide specific details regarding the project’s estimated costs. At that time, Murkomen indicated that the government aspired to elevate JKIA—Kenya’s primary entry point and the busiest airport in East Africa—to be on par with leading airports worldwide.
However, KAA’s acting CEO, Henry Ogoye, previously mentioned that the agreement with Adani necessitates substantial capital investment, which the government is currently unable to accommodate due to fiscal limitations. On September 9, the court ordered a suspension of any actions related to the proposed lease of JKIA to Adani until the matter is completely resolved.
