Lee Kinyanjui during Jamhuri celebrations in Nakuru. [Elijah Kinyanjui]
Nakuru County Governor Lee Kinyanjui has revealed that talks are ongoing to have an airport in Nakuru.
Governor Kinyanjui said the talks are at an advance stage and there will be a major announcement before the year ends.
Plans to have the airport in Nakuru began in 2004 and in 2011 the national government is said to have acquired a 600 acre piece of land in Pipeline with an allocation of Sh250 million towards the project in the 2011/2012 financial year.
The project however failed to take off after the National Environment Management Authority declined to approve it on grounds that the land is laid along flamingos’ migratory route.
Away from NEMA citing the Pipeline land unfit for airport construction due to flamingo migratory corridor, political interference and land grabbing claims have also stalled the project.
Late 2015, businessman David Thuo went to court barring the government from setting up an airport at Pipeline. He showed journalists a title under his name claiming he acquired the land in 1984.
Mr Thuo of Thuo Commercial Agencies Limited said there were plans for the government to buy the land but the deal collapsed after NEMA failed to certify the land safe for an airport.
Businessmen and politicians in Naivasha and Rongai have also torn each other on where the airport should be set up.
In an earlier interview, the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nakuru chapter, Mr Kamau Njuguna vouched for Naivasha citing it as the county’s economic hub.
In 2015, leaders from Rongai sub-county led by Visoi Ward MCA David Gitau Kamau said the facility should be constructed in Rongai.
They argued that Niavasha was nearer Nairobi- some 100Kms away and Rongai had ample suitable land.
He said an owner of a 700 acre farm was ready to sell off the land for airport construction.
But during Jamhuri Day celebrations at Afraha Stadium this year, Governor Lee said the national and county governments were in talks with Kenya Civil Aviation Authority and other stakeholders over the project.
“We have also had talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta who has underscored the need to have an operational airport in Nakuru,” said Kinyanjui.
He said Nakuru was lagging behind due to lack of an airport despite being a tourism and horticultural hub in the region.
Kinyanjui also revealed the county and national governments are in talks with the Ministry of Defense and private land owners towards securing a standard land to set up the airport.
The ministry of Defense, through the Kenya Air Force, will also offer technical expertise.
In 2013, the government said it would work with counties to establish airstrips and airports in all the 47 counties to ease transportation of passengers and cargo and help realize vision 2030.
Early this year, President Uhuru Kenyatta commissioned a Sh2.7 billion Isiolo International Airport.