Documents From Hacked KAA Hint At Revival Of Ksh56B JKIA Terminal Deal

A series of documents seen by Viral Tea revealed proposed plans to expand the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) into a facility which would be almost three times bigger than the current version.

According to the blueprints, the biggest airport in the country would allegedly boast of two buildings with a shape resembling the planned Greenfield terminal, a Ksh56 billion project which was cancelled in March 2016 barely two years after a ground-breaking ceremony that was held on May 23, 2014.

Also included was a second runway that would look longer than the existing one and would serve a series of aircraft taking off and landing at the same time and lessen the degree of disruption of operations in the event an incident was to happen on one runway.

An initial artist impression of Greenfield Terminal at JKIA. /PASCALL+WATSON

It is worth it to note that Transport Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen had revealed plans by President William Ruto's administration to revive the tender cancelled during former President Uhuru Kenyatta's regime.

“If approved, my priority will be to relook at the Greenfield terminal tender which was cancelled in 2016 after the contractor had been paid Ksh4.2 billion,” Murkomen had told Members of Parliament (MPs) who vetted him in October 2022 for the role.

“I will use my legal background and other available resources to take this case out of court, renegotiate the contract and possibly rebuild the Greenfield Terminal. It was to cost Ksh56 billion but it may go up because we need to get new contractors to set up the Green Field terminal. We need to build a second runway.”

The leaked documents furthermore revealed the concept design for the proposed departure terminal at Nanyuki Airstrip as well as works on the Busia Airport and the relocation of Busia Airstrip to a place near a primary school, where the airport is to be built.

Plans were also underway to expand Ukunda Airport before they were halted following a court order that accused the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) of encroaching on private land without permission.

In addition, a letter dated October 6, 2020, signed by Colonel E. P. Lopokoiyit, requested KAA to avail a team to visit the military facility to establish the facts. As of July 2022, Lopokoiyit had risen to the rank of Brigadier.

“There has been a progressive rise of obstacles around the Eastleigh Aerodrome. The series of 3D Obstacle Limitation Surfaces (OLS) that outlines the limits which objects may project in the airspace around the Eastleigh Aerodrome needs to be updated to ensure safe aircraft operations and also to prevent the aerodrome from becoming unusable due to further obstacles proliferation,” the letter read in part.

Obstacle Limitation Surfaces (OLS) refers to a series of surfaces that define the volume of airspace at and around an aerodrome to be kept free of obstacles in order to permit the intended aeroplane operations to be conducted safely and to prevent the aerodrome from becoming unusable by the growth of obstacles around the aerodrome. 

According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, “The management of obstacles at and in the proximity of an aerodrome must ensure the safe and efficient use of the aerodrome environment.”

On Tuesday, April 11, a suspected member of the notorious cyberterrorist group dubbed Medusa claimed to have breached some of KAA’s system and stolen files that were leaked online.

The attackers had leaked up to 514 GB of data, including procurement plans, physical plans, site surveys, invoices and receipts in the attack that affected normal operations of the KAA website. KAA was yet to issue a statement on the hack by the time of publication.

According to BleepingComputer, Medusa is a ransomware operation that gained momentum in 2023, targeting corporate victims worldwide with million-dollar ransom demands.

The Medusa operation started in June 2021 but had relatively low activity, with few victims. However, in 2023 the ransomware gang increased in activity and launched a 'Medusa Blog' used to leak data for victims who refused to pay a ransom.

Medusa was also found to be behind the recent attacks on Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), a complex of public schools located in the Minneapolis School District. The gang also claimed responsibility for an attack on the Open University of Cyprus (OUC) on Thursday, April 6, which caused severe disruptions to the organization's operations.

The group posted OUC on its data leak site, giving the institute 14 days to respond to its ransom demands. The hackers asked for Ksh13.4 million (US$100,000).