Infrastructure
Construction of Sh3bn Nakuru Airport Well Underway
The Lanet military airstrip will be converted into a civilian airport.
Construction of the proposed Nakuru International Airport is running ahead of schedule, with the Sh3 billion airfield expected to be ready by June next year.
Located at the 81 Tank Battalion Barracks in Lanet, the Nakuru airport will be the successor to the Military Lanet Airstrip, which will be upgraded into a modern international airport.
The airport will serve both military and civilian passengers once accomplished.
According to Transport Secretary James Macharia, the new airport will promote tourism while easing transportation of farm produce from the county to international markets.
“Works on the Lanet Airport which entails extending the current runway from 1.1km to 1.7km will be completed by June next year,” Mr Macharia said on Wednesday during the conferment of city status to Nakuru municipality.
Nakuru accounts for 70% of Kenya’s flower exports and companies currently rely on refrigerated trucks to ferry flowers to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.
Phase one of the project, involving construction of a 1.7km runway; construction of taxiways and terminals; a military lounge; air rescue centre; fence; and military and civilian gates, was initially scheduled for completion by August 2022 at a cost of Sh406 million.
The airstrip, which is next to the Kenya Military Academy – about 10 km from Nakuru town, will be expanded in partnership with the county government.
The project got underway in December last year – after a six-year delay.
Initially, the idea was to build the airport on a 600-acre parcel of land in Pipeline on Nairobi-Nakuru highway, but the plan was abandoned after Nema declined to approve the project on grounds that the site lays on a flamingo migratory route.
The county later 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.
The project fizzled out until 2017 when a group of wealthy investors began pushing for construction of the airport as a means to boost tourism and flower exports in the region.
Led by their spokesman Shadrack Koskei, the investors asked the county government to liaise with the respective authorities to revive the project that was first announced in 2004.
This prompted the State to organise a series of top-level meetings attended by teams from the military, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, Kenya Airports Authority, and the Nakuru County which approved the expansion of Lanet airstrip into an international airport.
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