China wins $2.9 bn Kenya airport project, 50% more than dropped Adani bid

New Delhi (Vivek Ojha) : Kenya has awarded a $ 2.9 billion contract to China Communications Construction Co (CCCC) to expand and modernise Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), marking a return to large-scale Chinese-backed infrastructure development nearly two years after the collapse of a proposed deal with India's Adani Group.

The contract value is roughly 50 per cent higher than Adani Group's proposed airport concession, which was estimated at about $ 2 billion before being scrapped by President William Ruto's government in November 2024 amid political opposition, legal challenges and public scrutiny, sources said.

Kenya had initially engaged with Adani for a few months on the project. However, the deal was cancelled in November 2024, following mounting pressure on President William Ruto amid global allegations raised by the US Department of Justice against the group (which Adani denied).

The award to the Chinese state-owned contractor advances long-delayed plans to modernise Kenya's busiest airport, which has been operating beyond its intended capacity and is viewed as critical to the country's ambitions of strengthening its position as East Africa's leading aviation hub.

The JKIA expansion forms part of a 20-year master plan extending to 2045 and includes upgrades to runway infrastructure, passenger terminals, aircraft stands, access roads and support facilities. Kenya's government has said the airport handled nearly 9 million passengers in 2025, above its design capacity of about 7.5 million passengers annually.