Land deal paves way for Kisumu Airport expansion

By Kepher Otieno

After being dogged by controversy over compensation for locals, the Sh2.9 billion Kisumu Airport expansion project has begun.

Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) project engineers have said phase one extension of the three-kilometre runway will be completed by the end of July.

Locals had demanded that KAA fully compensates them for their land before they could endorse the project. However, the two sides have finally agreed on the mode of compensation.

KAA Projects Manager Philemon Chamwada said that 500 metres of the runway had been completed.

"The engineers are about to move to the base of the runway and construct the first 500 metres touch down in phase two," he says.

Currently, the width of the runway is only 30 metres wide. "We will increase the metres to 45 to enable it accommodate bigger planes," he said in an interview

The projected date for final completion is September next year. The project is being undertaken by the Chinese Overseas Company.

Commercial hub

The expansion is aimed at giving Kisumu City a major face-lift as the commercial hub in Western Kenya so as to attract more investors to the area. "With the speed at which construction work is moving, we believe the facility will become operational by August next year," said Chamwada. Kisumu Airport Manager Joseph Okumu said the airport lounge can only accommodate up to 500 passengers while the car pack can take 100 vehicles at a time.

"We can only handle 12 scheduled flights a day, besides chartered flights, with the largest being the 85-seater capacity DC-90."