Two Chinese companies have written to the Kenya Airports Authority demanding Sh17 billion compensation for the JKIA Greenfield Terminal project that was cancelled in March 2016 (see P6).
Amazingly, Sh4.3 billion has already been paid to Anhui Construction Engineering Group and China Aero-Technology International Engineering Corporation as an advance deposit on the Sh64 billion project.
Virtually no construction work was done before the government decided the Greenfield Terminal would not be needed as the existing airport could be upgraded to handle eight million passengers a year.
The two companies only cleared a small area of vegetation. That work can hardly have cost Sh20 million yet they had already received Sh4.3 billion which they have not refunded.
How do the two companies have the cheek to demand another Sh17 billion? Presumably, they are working with cartels and well-connected middlemen to fleece the government.
This is unacceptable. The Transport ministry and the Attorney General should firmly reject the Chinese demand.
Furthermore, the Chinese Embassy should intervene to stop this greedy manoeuvre that discredits the good work being done by many other Chinese companies in Kenya.
Quote of the day: "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."
Nelson Mandela
He was inaugurated as South Africa's first black president on May 10, 1994
