Infrastructure
Kisumu airport expansion underway
The upgrade will enable the airport to handle large aircraft such as Boeing 767 and Boeing 467.
Kisumu International Airport has embarked on a Sh600 million expansion project as it seeks to boost its capacity to handle bigger aircraft.
The 13-month-long project follows the completion of the initial phase of expansion, in which the runway was extended to 3.3 kilometres and from 30 metres to 40 metres wide.
The expansion doubled the number of passengers using the airport in western Kenya to 400,000 per year, according to its officials.
“In order for the runway to carry bigger aircraft of 40 tonnes and above, it is being upgraded from code C to code D…This expansion project will also increase the strength of the runway,” the airport’s manager Joseph Okumu said.
The upgrade will enable the airport to handle large aircraft such as Boeing 767 and Boeing 467 that transport cargo of 100 tonnes.
China Overseas Engineering Group Company has been contracted to undertake the project that will also include renovating the old airport and establishing three new hangars.
The Chinese firm was in 2009 hired to undertake the first phase of the Kisumu airport expansion, which involved, among others, extending the runway from 2.1 km to 3.3 km and construction of a new terminal at a cost of Sh3.4 billion.
The upgraded facility was opened by President Mwai Kibaki in February 2012 – becoming the third largest airport in Kenya after the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi and the Moi International Airport in Mombasa.
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