The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) has spent Sh821 million on five stalled projects at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) whose completion still hangs in the balance.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu in a report for the year ended June 2021 says the expenditures relate to spending on stalled projects at Greenfield Terminal and the second runway at JKIA in Nairobi.
The amount constitutes Sh670 million for Greenfield Terminal and Sh149 million for the second runway whose tender was cancelled in 2016.
“The completion of the projects is doubtful and the likelihood of the costs being impaired is high,” said Ms Gathungu in the report.
Ms Gathungu says the amount was spent between 2013 and 2016 without giving details of the spending.
However, the two projects have attracted penalties from contractors, some of who feel they were edged out after winning the jobs fairly.
The Chinese firm, ACEG-CATIC JV, for instance, slapped the KAA with a Sh17.6 billion bill for a project that never took off.
The tender was cancelled in March 2016 after Sh4.2 billion had been paid to the contractor in advance and Sh75 million was spent on a groundbreaking ceremony in 2014.
Airport tender
Chinese firms Anhui Civil Engineering Group (ACEG) and China Aero Technology Engineering International Corporation (Catic) had been selected to build the Sh56 billion terminal, which was expected to handle 20 million passengers a year.
The contractor may get back his job as President William Ruto’s administration plans to revive the Sh56 billion airport tender, reversing another major infrastructure decision by former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
