The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) is concerned after several of its parcels of land and houses were taken by private developers, compromising air safety in the country.
This is in despite there being regulations in place that buildings should not be within flight paths to avoid interfering with taking off and landing of aircrafts.
However, this is usually compromised once property lands in the hands of private developers going against International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) standards where Kenya is a council member state.
The Convention on International Civil Aviation, drafted and signed in 1944 by 54 nations, was established to promote cooperation and “create and preserve friendship and understanding among the nations and peoples of the world.”
Known more commonly today as the ‘Chicago Convention’, this landmark agreement established the core principles permitting international transport by air, and led to the creation of the specialised agency which has overseen it ever since ICAO.
Aviation safety is at the core of ICAO’s fundamental Objectives.KCAA raised the issue of encroachment on their land and property before Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia on July 22 during the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of a modern air traffic control tower at Wilson Airport.
Land scarcity, disregard for safety, and lack of ownership documents has led to real estate investors encroaching on airport land or flight paths.
At the Wilson Airport for instance, the ever mushrooming real estates and illegal encroachment prompted the KCAA to upgrade its air traffic control tower. The tower complex worth Sh163 million is set to be completed in the next 18 months.
During the ground breaking ceremony, the Kenya Association of Air Operators executive secretary Col (Rtd) Eutychus Karumba Waithaka, pleaded with Macharia to come to their rescue and help repossess encroached airport land.
“Encroachment of airport land poses a major safety risk not only to the aircraft but also to those who put up developments. Airport land countrywide is at risk of being grabbed,” Waithaka said.
Macharia said a team comprising of senior officials from his ministry, the KCAA director general and other officials in the aviation industry will be formed to look into the matter as matters safety must be addressed with immediacy. The CS said the aviation sector is very pertinent to the country’s economy as it generates about Sh24.8 billion to the economy, 1.1 per cent of the GDP.
The CS said the industry is very critical to agriculture, security, health and tourism in the country.
“Aviation has been given a special place in the Vision 2030 plan and modernisation of the airports not only at Wilson, is key to driving the country’s economic growth,” he said.