Kenyan Protests Over Adani’s Nairobi Airport Lease Proposal

Kenyan Protests Over Adani’s Nairobi Airport Lease Proposal

Background and Background
• The airport refurbishment and expansion project has been ongoing since 2013, with plans to build a new passenger terminal, another runway, and expand capacity to 20 million passengers annually.
• The project was cancelled in 2016, and the project was dormant until 2022.
• In June 2023, the Kenyan government announced it would publicly invite bids to revive the project.
• In July 2021, a Kenyan whistle-blower posted on social media that the government had secretly signed a deal with the Adani group to manage the airport for 30 years.

Terms of the Deal
• Adani Airport Holdings Ltd submitted a Privately Initiated Proposal (PIP) to the Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) in March 2024 for a refurbishment of the JKIA under a build-operate-transfer model with an investment of $1.85 billion.
• The Adanis would refurbish the airport, add a new runway, and possibly a terminal, and fund this with their own investment and from airport revenues.
• The Adanis would get 18% equity in the airport at the end of the period.

Objections from Kenyans
• Kenyans are concerned that the deal would give the Adanis a tax break for 10 years and allow them to fire all the employees currently on the KAA’s rolls and rehire them on terms that could violate their rights.
• The Law Society of Kenya and the Kenya Human Rights Commission have filed a joint application against the deal in the high court.