Billionaire Gautam Adani-led Adani Group has received a $1.3 billion concession to build power transmission lines in Kenya. The Adani Group, along with Africa50 in a joint venture, will carry out the project, according to Economic Times. Africa 50 is an infrastructure unit of the African Development Bank.
“The government, through KETRACO, has awarded PPP concessions to Adani and Africa50 to build NEW transmission lines. They are hiring their project teams. The cost of these transmission lines is $1.3b that we do not have to borrow,” said David Ndii in a post on X. David Ndii is the chief economic advisor to the President of Kenya, William Ruto.
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The announcement has come just days after the protests against the proposal to lease Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to Adani Group, have died down.
Why were aviation workers protesting?
Last week, the aviation workers union protested against the government’s move to lease out JKIA to Adani Group for 30 years. While the government believed that the JKIA, is operating beyond its capacity, it needed private investment to upgrade it, according to the BBC.
According to the media reports,the Kenya airport authority (KAA), which operates the JKIA has signed a $2.5 billion build-and-operate deal with Gautam Adani’s conglomerate. According to the agreement, the Adani group will reportedly renovate the airport’s structure and build a new terminal. In exchange for the investment, the group will operate the airport for 30 years. Additionally, after the lease ends, the group will get an 18 per cent equity stake in JKIA.
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On September 11, union workers chanted “Adani must go” and the protest led to a delay of flights. Hundreds of passengers were stranded at JKIA. The union contested that the change in management could lead to the loss of jobs.
However, after the government's assurance that no deal with the Adani group will be finalised without workers approval, brought back normalcy to JKIA operations as workers resumed work.
