Greenfield Terminal To be Completed In 2017

Last Updated 13 years ago by Kenya Engineer

In December 2011, the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) gave Anhui Construction Company, a Chinese firm, the tender to construct the new airport terminal and a second runway adjacent to JKIA. Known as the, “Greenfield Project,” the tender was worth Kshs55 billion (US$654 million).

Construction of the proposed Greenfield Terminal at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is expected to begin in November 2013. The Greenfield terminal, which includes a new runway, will double the handling capacity of Kenya’s largest airport to over 20 million passengers annually. The Greenfield Terminal is scheduled to be completed in 2017 at an estimated cost of US$ 654 million (Kshs 55 billion).

Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), which is implementing the project, held a series of consultative meetings with key stakeholders, giving them an opportunity to engage the project’s architects. The plan is to have stakeholder in-puts and requirements accommodated in the final designs.

In July 2013, the Greenfield Project’s lead architects and supervising consultant made presentations to key JKIA Airport operators. Pascal & Watson, the architects, had a presentation on the proposed design of the terminal. Pascal & Watson have previously worked on similar projects including Heathrow Terminal 5 and Dublin Terminal 2.

The Louis Berger Group, KAA’s project supervising consultant, discussed several options considered in the master plan for the terminal with the merits and demerits of each and the suitability of hub operations for the various terminal options. The consultants had a related session with senior management of KAA and Kenya Airways.

On the 17th September 2003 The Kenyan Cabinet approved the conversion of the Old Embakasi Airport into a local flight terminal. Meeting under the Chairmanship of former President Mwai Kibaki, the Cabinet agreed that the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport must be transformed into a modern and efficient hub. This step would make JKIA, a leading regional civil aviation hub. Consequently the government asked the then Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Kenya Airports Authority to come up with a comprehensive master-plan for JKIA hence the birth of the Greenfield terminal project.

The Greenfield Terminal is expected to handle 20 million passengers a year and forms part of Kenya’s Vision 2030 project, which also covers the construction of the $19bn Lamu Port. The stand-alone new facility, which is expected to be connected to the existing terminal buildings by bus service, will, when ready, offer up to 50 check-in counters, 8 air bridges for aircraft to dock – including meeting the specifications to serve the giant A 380 – and a further up to 45 aircraft parking stands on the linked apron space, also due to be constructed alongside the terminal, plus links to existing and new taxiways and an additional runway.

The tender documents for the construction of the $500m Greenfield terminal were published in June 2011 and attracted interest from more than 100 local and multinational firms. The new terminal, which had initially been planned to be operational by 2014, is now expected to be completed in 2017.

When opened way back in 1978, JKIA was to cater to a maximum of 2.5 million passengers. Statistics however show that this has now been exceeded by more than twice with the terminal serving over 6.2 million passengers annually. The country’s tourism industry has highlighted the constraints of JKIA and Moi International Airport in Mombasa as key elements in NOT allowing the country to reach its full potential of visitors while airlines have often voiced their equal concern over having just one runway at both airports, leading to full closures following an incident on the runway, as has happened on several occasions in the past. As a hub for national carrier Kenya Airways (KQ), adequate handling capacity is critical to the carrier’s long term expansion plan, as outlined in its 10 year strategic plan, Project Mawingu. In Project Mawingu, KQ’s current fleet of Boeing 737-800s will grow to 10 by 2014/15 and to 18 by 2018/19. Its fleet of B777s will grow from 4 each to 12 each overall. Network-wise, from its current 55 destinations in 45 countries on 4 continents KQ intends to serve 115 destinations in 77 countries on all continents, all out of its Nairobi hub.

Status Quo
Currently, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport’s terminal has 3 units that cater for both arrivals and departures. Units 1 and 2 are mainly used for international flights whereas unit 3 is mainly used for domestic flights.

Departing passengers check-in through units 1 and 2 depending on their destinations. Both units have airline check-in counters that operate on a Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE) system and immigration desks at the ground floor where passengers are cleared before they proceed to the departure lounge in the first floor via escalators or lifts.

There are eight departure gates with boarding bridges. Arriving international passengers enter via the same gates into a concourse which leads to immigration counters at the first floor before coming to the baggage hall situated in the ground floor.
Currently there is only one runway (06/24) which is 4’117m (13,507ft) paved in asphalt and ILS (Instrument Landing System) equipped. The current runway is sufficient to accommodate over 80’000 landings and take-offs a year but at the moment the number is only 60’000.

The Expansion
The expansion project was divided into three phases to avoid disrupting the airport’s operations. In subsequent phases the airport is set to have a new parking lot to accommodate 1’500 cars, airfield lighting and apron flood lights.

The first phase of the project involved a taxiway, apron construction, civil works for the new terminal building, extension of the fuel hydrant system and fencing and was started in September 2006 and completed in mid-2008. It was originally expected to be complete by 2007, but delays due to rains, shortage of cement and delivery of equipment set the project back.

The second phase, which started in mid-2008, includes the construction of Terminal 4 and a car parking facility that can accommodate 1,500 cars.

In the third phase, Terminals 1 and 2 and the international arrivals complex will be renovated. The new mega terminal will also be added bringing the airport’s carrying capacity to over 8million passengers/year.

Terminal 4
In October 2005, the Kenya Airports Authority announced the final plans for the expansion of JKIA. The new Terminal 4 building will double the current size of JKIA from 25,662m² to 55,222m² and will have a capacity of 20million passengers per year. The new terminal will handle one-way peak hour traffic of 1,500 passengers.

Aircraft parking, which has been a major problem in the past, will be improved by an increase in apron space from 23 parking stands at 200,000m² to 43 aircraft stands at 300,000m², with additional taxiways to be constructed. There will be 32 contact and 8 remote gates and even a Railway terminal is planned in future.

The arrivals and departures sections are now to be totally separated for increased security (a precondition for future US-bound flights) through the construction of an additional floor which will add another 23,500m² of floor space.

The departures section will have 50 international and 10 domestic check-in counters with existing waiting areas to be renovated.
An extended apron from terminal 4 to the new cargo village will increase its capacity handling from three to eight wide-bodied aircraft simultaneously.

Greenfield Terminal
Architectural design for the Greenfield Terminal was awarded to M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates, Inc., referred to as Gensler, an American design and architecture firm. Construction of the US$ 654 million (Kshs 55 billion) Greenfield terminal could start in November 2013.

Costs & Finances
Greenfield Terminal Complex
•    Tender awarded to Chinese firm Anhui Construction
•    Construction expected to begin in November 2013 and be completed in 2017
•    The entire Project Greenfield is slated to cost USD640million.
Terminal Four
•    Construction started in August 2010.
•    Completion expected in August 2013.
•    Total cost USD110million (KSh9.3 billion) with World Bank contributing USD14million.
Second runway
•    Design started in August 2012.
•    Construction set to start in August 2013.
•    Expected cost USD150million (KSh12.7 billion)
Renovation of Terminals 1, 2 and 3
•    Phase III will cost USD92 million. Under this phase, Terminals 1 and 2 and the international arrivals complex will be renovated.
•    Detailed design in progress
•    Work to begin after terminal 4 is completed

Phase II was financed by the KAA at a total cost of USD40.2 million. In addition, European Investment Bank and Agence Francaise de Development will provide USD186million towards the expansion of airport.

Consultants & Architects
In 2004, a Canadian-Kenyan consortium led by Queen’s Quay Architects International Inc (Q2) and including Mueller International Inc (Sypher) won the consulting contract for the renovation and forecasted expansion requirements for JKIA. The JKIA consulting team also includes Kenyan architects and engineers Mruttu Salmann & Associates, Chal Consult, Muambi Associates, Otieno Odongo & Partners, WestConsult, M&E Consulting Engineers, and Lariak Landscapes.