Kenya has signed a 154.2 billion Kenyan shilling ($1.2 billion) agreement with China Road and Bridge Corporation to carry out the Nairobi airport expansion at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Transport Minister Davis Chirchir announced on Tuesday.
The deal revives a project that stalled in November 2024, after President William Ruto cancelled a proposed 30-year concession with India’s Adani Group following the indictment of its founder, Gautam Adani, by US prosecutors on bribery and fraud charges. Adani Group denied the allegations.
The Adani proposal had already faced fierce domestic opposition. Airport workers, led by the Kenya Aviation Workers Union, staged a strike in September 2024 that brought JKIA to a standstill. Labour unions and civil society groups cited concerns about job security, a clause restricting Kenya’s legal recourse to international arbitration, and a proposed ten-year tax exemption for Adani.
Ruto cited “new information provided by our investigative agencies and partner nations” when he ordered the cancellation during his State of the Nation address to Parliament.
Capacity Under Strain
The case for the Nairobi airport expansion is hard to dispute from the numbers. JKIA was built to handle eight million passengers a year. It processed 8.6 million in 2024 and 8.8 million in 2025, according to data from the Kenya Airports Authority principal secretary, Terry Mbaika. Traffic is rising by roughly one million passengers annually.
Once completed, the project is expected to lift annual capacity to 22 million passengers, nearly tripling the airport’s current throughput of 7.5 million, the government said.
Chirchir outlined the scope on his X account, stating that it covers “the construction of a new terminal building and associated support facilities, the modernization and upgrading of existing infrastructure, the improvement of airside and landside operations.
Financing the Nairobi Airport Expansion/Timeline
The Nairobi airport expansion will be funded through a mix of airport revenues, debt financing and equity contributions. The government has appointed the Africa Finance Corporation and the Trade and Development Bank as lead financial arrangers. Chirchir said the project will be “funded through leveraging of airport-based revenue streams,” with the two institutions tasked with attracting development finance institutions and commercial banks.
The financing framework requires the government to borrow up to 100 billion Kenyan shillings while injecting roughly 50 billion shillings in equity, according to Mjengo Hub, which has reviewed internal master plan data.
Officially, the Nairobi airport expansion is expected to take about 36 months to complete. President Ruto had indicated that works would begin in July.
Notably, the project as currently scoped does not include a new runway. The Kenya Airports Authority master plan, presented to KAWU in February, had targeted a new runway by 2029 that would raise airfield capacity from 14 aircraft movements per hour to 63.
Internal master plan data reviewed by Mjengo Hub warns that the single upgraded runway will face peak-hour demand constraints by 2029 if passenger growth continues at its current pace.
Regional Pressure
The Nairobi airport expansion comes as Kenya fights to hold its position as East Africa’s dominant aviation hub. Rwanda is advancing construction of Bugesera International Airport, which is targeting an initial capacity of seven million passengers by 2027 and an eventual 14 million. Tanzania has upgraded Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam to eight million passengers annually.
Ethiopia continues to invest in its own facilities, with Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport serving as a major hub for long-haul African travel.
Chirchir acknowledged the competitive pressure directly. Countries across the region are making significant investments in modern airport infrastructure,” he said in a ministry status report. “To maintain Kenya’s position as the leading aviation hub in East Africa, we must similarly invest.”
Procurement Questions Linger
The signing of the JKIA agreement with China Road and Bridge Corporation has not ended all scrutiny. Questions surrounding the Nairobi airport expansion procurement process have continued. Earlier this month, Kenyan and Zimbabwean media linked the project to IMC Construction, a company associated with Zimbabwean businessman Wicknell Chivayo. Chirchir flatly rejected the reports.
“The company referred to in those reports did not participate in this procurement process as a bidder and has no role, involvement or association whatsoever with this project,” the minister said. He added that all bidders were required to submit legally binding disclosures of any joint venture partners.
Chirchir confirmed that the bidding process opened on 3 March 2026 and closed on 14 May, and that public participation had been conducted between November 2025 and April 2026.
China Road and Bridge Corporation is a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company, the firm that built Kenya’s Mombasa-Nairobi standard gauge railway and is constructing the Nairobi-Naivasha railway extension. The Nairobi airport expansion will add another major infrastructure project to its portfolio in Kenya.
