JKIA: State yet to learn from Adani mistakes
Editorial
By
Editorial
| Jun 17, 2026
The government has contracted a company owned by a controversial man to undertake the expansion and modernisation of Kenya’s main aviation hub - the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
IMC Construction Kenya, which is owned by Wicknell Chivayo - a controversial Zimbabwean businessman who now appears to have deep ties with the Kenya Kwanza regime and China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned firm China Communications Construction Company, have won the Sh375 billion ($2.9 billion) tender to upgrade JKIA.
The project will entail the improvement of existing airfield and terminals. It will also include the development of a new passenger terminal building and associated landside, airside and support facilities.
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Lack of transparency was among the issues that were raised when the government handed JKIA to Adani Group of India. Stakeholders questioned how the firm’s privately initiated proposal was reviewed and passed without input from critical players. It is what led Kenyans to reject Adani's planned take-over of the airport for 30 years.
Unfortunately, while remarkably different from the proposal by Adani, the current bid by Chivayo’s firm and CRBC has sparked concerns similar to those that were raised in 2024 about the Adani deal.
The government bids for the JKIA project on March 3 this year. The Public Procurement and Disposal Act requires a procuring entity to give bidders a minimum of 30 days from the date of announcement to prepare and submit their bids. The initial date for submission of bids was April 23 but this was moved to May 14, reflecting the magnitude and complexity of the tender.
The Act also sets a maximum of 30 days for tender evaluation and another five days for award of the tender. The law also requires that once the winner is picked, the procuring entity must wait 14 days before the formal contract is signed, a period within which disgruntled bidders can file appeals.
From the look of things, this important tender of national importance was rushed as the bids were submitted, evaluated and awarded in a record 20 days if not less. Aviation industry players and the general public feel that their views should have been sought on this important project.
The decision by the government to do business with Chivayo, projected by different reports as a questionable character.
Secondly, Kenyans expected the government to have learnt a lesson from the public outrage that followed its decision to engage Gautum Adani who was facing bribery and fraud charges in the US then. But to their shock, the government went ahead to embrace Chivayo, a similarly controversial figure who is painted by reports as questionable character and who has in the past been accused of taking Zimbabwean taxpayers' money to deliver on electricity projects, but later authorities claimed that little or no work was done.
JKIA sorely deserves an upgrade. But can't the government procure contractors transparently without courting controversy?