Kenya is inviting firms to bid for the construction of USD370M second runway at JKIA

Kenya is on its way to getting a brand new category two 4.8km long and 75 metre wide runway built to

The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) has officially opened the bidding process for the construction of the second runway at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.

The runway construction will be in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Category Two standards, and will include building connecting taxiways, additional parking stands for aircraft, and an air rescue firefighting unit has been scheduled to begin in June this year.

“The procurement of civil works will be carried out under open competitive bidding with post qualification of contractors.” said KAA on Tuesday in a notice.

The project which was first announced in 2013 will be partially funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB),

Last November, AfDB approved a $160 million (Sh16.1 billion) loan for the project earlier estimated at Sh37 billion ($370m).

“(The government) intends to apply part of the proceeds of this loan for construction of the second runway at JKIA,”

The runway is designed to improve the reliability of air transport to and from JKIA by reducing delays at peak hours and costly flight diversions arising from incidents on the existing runway.

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The existing single runway with a width of 45 metres and length of 4.1km is operating at Category Flights Conditions level one (CAT-1).

The planned upgrade will raise JKIA to world-class standards, according to KAA and see it handle new generation extra-wide-bodied aeroplanes such as the Airbus A380 and Boeing B747-800.