Kenya has awarded a $2.9 billion contract to China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) to expand and modernise Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), according to Bloomberg.

The deal follows the cancellation of a 30-year concession agreement with Adani Airport Holdings, which had been expected to finance and operate the upgrade of East Africa’s busiest aviation hub. The proposal was withdrawn after public opposition and legal challenges over governance and sovereignty concerns.

Under the new arrangement, China Communications Construction Company will execute engineering, procurement and construction works to expand terminal capacity and airside infrastructure at JKIA, Kenya’s main international gateway.

The shift marks a move away from a long-term private concession model toward a state-led financing structure supported by Kenya’s National Infrastructure Fund (NIF). Authorities have increasingly positioned the fund as the central vehicle for large-scale infrastructure investment.

Funding for the programme is partly linked to proceeds from the partial privatisation of the Kenya Pipeline Company, which were channelled into the NIF as seed capital, alongside planned commercial borrowing backed by future user-fee revenues.

CCCC, which already has a significant footprint in Kenya’s transport and public infrastructure sectors, further deepens its role in the country’s development pipeline with the airport contract.

The expansion comes as East Africa’s aviation market becomes increasingly competitive, with Ethiopia advancing plans for a new mega-airport near Addis Ababa and Rwanda expanding capacity in partnership with Qatar Airways.