What Kibaki has in store for Nyanza during visit

Two major projects are the centre of President Kibaki’s visit to Nyanza on Friday and Saturday.

The Commissioning of the works at the Kisumu Airport and the Kendubay - Homabay road and officially opening of the Sondu-Miriu hydroelectric project are among the engagements that the president is expected to undertake in the two-day visit.

The head of the Presidential Press Service, Mr Isiah Kabira, confirmed the visit.

The only other time the president has visited Luo Nyanza since the 2007 General Election was during a graduation ceremony at Maseno University late last year.

The president’s visit comes at a time when Prime Minister Raila Odinga is under pressure from his political backyard over what residents view as skewed allocation of resources and government positions, with some saying that the impact of the coalition government was yet to be felt in Nyanza.

Many have been looking at the visit as being of significance politically but this will unravel once the President arrives in the lake-side town.
The airport works have been going on since September last year.

The president’s visit comes at a time when the Kenya Airports Authority has planned to reduce the length of the runway from 1.7 km to 1.2 km.

This means that airlines using the facility will be forced to use smaller planes for the next four months following the reduction of the runway.

On Monday, a senior engineer in charge of the airport expansion project, Mr Patrick Kain, said the flights will also be restricted to using the airport before 10am and after 4pm to allow the expansion work to continue.

“Between July 30 to November, all the airlines will have to downgrade their aircraft because the available runway will only measure 1.2 kilometres as opposed to the current 1.7 kilometres,” said Mr Kain.

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Mr Patrick Chamwada, an engineer with the KAA said that they had already held meetings with the operators and that most of them had agreed to the new requirements.

National carrier Kenya Airways has partnered with Precision Air to service the Kisumu route from August to November while the airport undergoes rehabilitation to transform it to international status.

The announcement by KQ effectively reversed an earlier decision to suspend flights to Kisumu which was set to begin on July 1.

KQ head of corporate communications Victoria Kaigai said that the airline shall continue operating twice daily on its Embraer E170 jets at special rates of Sh6,000 return and Sh3,000 for one way travel until August when the partnership agreement takes effect.

“The changes in the KQ operations on this route are to allow for the planned expansion and renovation of the Kisumu airport runway. KQ’s Embraer E170 jets which operate on this route cannot land on the available runway space which will be shorter during the renovation period. Precision Air’s ATR aircraft have the capability to land on shorter runways,” the statement by the airline’s corporate communications officer stated.

Both the commissioning of works at the airport and official opening of the Sondu Miriu project had in the past been pushed back.

The Sondu power project has been dogged by controversy, with conservationists arguing that the water levels could not sustain electricity generation owing to the wanton destruction of the Mau forest which serves as its source.

But Energy assistant minister Charles Keter and the parliamentary energy committee later visited the project and gave it a clean bill of health.

A second generation plant is being built at the lower reaches of the river Sondu at Sangoro at a cost of Sh3.5 billion. The first phase took Sh14.3 billion.

The Kendubay–Homabay road is expected to open up the Southern parts of Nyanza, especially the major beaches which are rich in Nile Perch output.