Ruto vows brand-new airport in 18 months as JKIA scrutiny intensifies

President William Ruto has set an 18-month deadline for the completion of a new airport in Nairobi, declaring construction is under way and staking his government’s infrastructure credibility on a project that has already survived one major controversy.

By James Mwangi

President William Ruto yesterday told Kenya’s business community that the country would have a brand-new airport within 18 months, insisting that construction was already under way following a government reorganisation of the project after the collapse of its proposed partnership with India’s Adani Group.

Speaking at the Kenya Private Sector Alliance Presidential Roundtable at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi, Ruto made the declaration with characteristic directness. “In the next 18 months, we will have a brand-new airport,” he told assembled business leaders, adding that the project had moved decisively beyond the planning stage.

The announcement represents the most specific public timeline Ruto has attached to the airport expansion since the Adani controversy derailed the government’s original financing model in late 2024. The Indian conglomerate’s proposed involvement in the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport concession triggered a sustained wave of public opposition, culminating in the government stepping back from the arrangement and seeking an alternative path forward. Yesterday’s remarks were Ruto’s clearest signal yet that an alternative has been found and implemented.

“Remember, there was a small challenge with noise around Adani and others, but we’ve since reorganised, and now the airport is under construction,” he said, characterising one of the most politically turbulent infrastructure episodes of his administration as a manageable bump in the road.

He was equally direct in defending the need for the project. JKIA, Africa’s fourth-busiest airport by passenger volume and Kenya’s principal international gateway, has long struggled under the weight of its own importance. Its terminals, designed for a fraction of their current traffic, leave many international visitors with a first impression that sits uncomfortably alongside Kenya’s ambitions as a regional business, tourism, and aviation hub.

“We will finish the airport because we don’t have an airport. You all agree. Those of you who travel, when you arrive at Jomo Kenyatta, you arrive to a tarmac, and the place isn’t very good,” Ruto told the gathering. It was a candid admission from a sitting president about the inadequacy of his country’s flagship aviation facility — and a measure of how seriously his administration views the project’s strategic importance.

President William Ruto addresing during KEPSA Presidential Roundtable, KICC Nairobi. PHOTO/@WilliamsRuto/X

Ruto also addressed criticism over his government’s handling of the timeline, pushing back against what he described as a shifting cycle of scepticism. Critics, he said, had first argued the project was impossible, then accused him of overpromising, then claimed nothing was happening. “Now the debate has changed, saying, ‘Oh, it’s happening,’ but it was supposed to be last month, but it has delayed by a month or two months,” he said, dismissing the concern as routine for a project of this scale. “It’s not that it has not happened. It’s just that it is one month late. That we can deal with.”

The framing is politically calculated. With the August 2027 General Election now firmly within sight, every major infrastructure commitment carries a dual weight — developmental and electoral. The airport has become one of the most visible tests of Ruto’s ability to deliver on the transformational promises that defined his 2022 campaign. A gleaming new terminal opened before polling day would be a powerful symbol. A stalled construction site would hand his opponents a ready-made argument.

The commercial stakes are equally significant. JKIA sits at the heart of Kenya’s bid to consolidate Nairobi’s position as East Africa’s premier business and connectivity hub, competing directly with Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport and Kigali’s rapidly expanding Bugesera facility for regional dominance. Kenya Airways, Nairobi’s flag carrier, depends on JKIA’s capacity and reputation to attract codeshare partners and international routes. A modernised airport would strengthen that case considerably.

What Ruto did not provide yesterday were the technical details that would allow independent verification of his timeline: the precise scope of construction currently under way, the financing arrangements that replaced the Adani concession model, the phased delivery milestones, and which specific facilities would be operational within the 18-month window. Those gaps will need to be filled if the government is to convert business community goodwill into durable public confidence.

The Kenya Airports Authority and the Ministry of Transport have yet to publish a comprehensive public update on the revised project structure since the Adani withdrawal. Investors, airlines, and ordinary Kenyans travelling through an increasingly strained JKIA will be watching for that detail.

For now, Ruto has done what political leaders facing scepticism typically do: he has planted a flag, named a date, and dared his critics to wait and see. In 18 months, Kenya will know whether the flag was worth planting.

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