Infrastructure

Billionaires Push for Revival of Nakuru Airport Project

The investors have urged Nakuru County to revive the project.

Updated on

September 4, 2017

A Kenya airways plane. — The Nakuru airport is expected to serve a million passengers annually. PHOTO | FILE

A group of wealthy investors in Nakuru have launched a petition urging Governor Lee Kinyanjui to help revive plans for the construction of an airport in the county.

The businessmen, involved in horticulture and tourism, expressed frustration that delays in implementing the project have hindered the county’s economic growth.

Led by their spokesman, Shadrack Koskei, the investors have urged Mr Kinyanjui to liaise with the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) and the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), to revive the Nakuru airport project.

“Flower farmers in Naivasha will have a chance to exploit the huge market by increasing their exports to Europe and the United States. The airport will also make it easier for the county to receive hordes of international tourists,” Mr Koskei said in a press interview.

Observers say that although this is a noble initiative, it will be difficult to revive the project that stalled in 2014 after the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) declined to approve it because the site lies on a flamingo migratory route.

The project, whose groundbreaking was scheduled for 2014, was to be located on 642 acres in the Pipeline area – about 15km from Nakuru town on the Nairobi-Nakuru highway.

The county had proposed two other sites: Naivasha and Njoro. The Naivasha site was found to be an inappropriate choice while the latter was rejected due to poor terrain.

In July 2014, KAA announced that its engineers, alongside KCAA, were surveying the Naivasha site and would share their findings upon completion.

CK understands that local politics are frustrating the project, with a section of leaders pushing for the facility to be built on a 700-acre farm in Rongai.

“We should not jeopardise our main symbol of tourism [flamingos]. Let them build the airport in Rongai,” said a ward representative who spoke off the record.

Nakuru is a major horticultural hub, accounting for nearly 70 per cent of the country’s flower exports. The county is also a premier tourist destination with scenic attractions such as the Menengai Crater, Hells Gate National Park and the Lake Nakuru National Park.