Kenya signs a $1.2 billion deal with China to expand Nairobi Airport

NAIROBI – The Kenyan authorities have signed an agreement worth the equivalent of 1.2 billion dollars with the Beijing-based state-owned giant China Road and Bridge Corporation for the ‘modernisation’ of Jomo Kenyatta Airport. The aim is to increase annual passenger capacity from the current 7.5 million to 22 million.

The agreement was announced by Transport Minister Davis Chirchir in a post on X, which summarised the projects currently underway and one of the key aims of the initiative: to strengthen “Kenya’s position as the leading regional aviation hub” in the face of rising competition from countries such as Rwanda and, above all, Abiy Ahmed’s Ethiopia. The agreement between Nairobi and Beijing revives an expansion project that had already resulted in a 30-year licence being granted to the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, which was subsequently revoked by Kenyan leader William Ruto following trade union protests, an unfavourable High Court ruling and the launch of investigations into Adani’s group in the United States.

Beijing’s entry marks a further expansion of China’s infrastructure footprint across the continent and in Kenya itself, following a $1.5 billion deal in November with China Road and Bridge Corporation and its compatriot Shandong Hi-Speed Road and Bridge International for the extension of a motorway towards the coast. Over the years, Beijing has embarked on a strategic shift following the more than $180 billion in loans disbursed to African governments and institutions in the first two decades of the millennium, moving towards a reduction in disbursements and a more measured approach in sectors such as digital technology and renewables.

The easing of these flows has not meant a withdrawal from a continent at the heart of its international agenda, from the infrastructure network of the Belt and Road Initiative to the push for the yuan and trade, with 53 out of the 55 countries under the umbrella of the African Union having scrapped tariffs. The agreement with Nairobi itself demonstrates how Beijing is ‘extending its infrastructure focus to African aviation, not just to roads and bridges’, explains Jules Moukam of the Cameroon Economic Policy Institute, a think tank. The benefits of the agreement must be weighed against the risks surrounding its financial management: projects of this scale, says Moukam, “are often based on substantial external loans or guarantees” and can strain debt sustainability and fiscal manoeuvring room.