Musings From Abroad

India’s Adani sets up Kenyan unit amid lobbying for JKIA deal

Published

5 days ago

September 2, 2024

Adani Enterprises has established a Kenyan unit as it intensifies its bid to take over Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, despite ongoing opposition from transport workers.

According to a registration with the National Stock Exchange of India in Mumbai, Gautam Adani’s enormous corporate giant’s main company, “Airports Infrastructure PLC (AIP)” was formed in Kenya on August 30.

“AIP is incorporated to take over, operate, maintain, develop, design, construct, upgrade, modernise and manage the airports,” the filing reads.

The Kenyan subsidiary was established by an Abu Dhabi entity called Global Airports Operator, which is a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises and would own 100% of AIP’s share capital. As part of the Kenyan company’s establishment, Adani issued a share capital of Ksh6.75 million, divided into 6,750 shares of Ksh1,000 each.

While Adani stated that AIP has yet to begin operations or generate money, the establishment of a Kenyan airport subsidiary demonstrates its continuous commitment to the JKIA takeover, even as domestic opposition to the plan develops.

Kenya Airports Authority staff went on strike at JKIA on Monday to oppose Adani’s proposal to take over the airport, citing concerns over job security.

Adani filed a privately initiated proposal (PIP) with the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) earlier this year to run JKIA on a 30-year concession. Adani’s financial plan indicates that $750 million will be spent on the construction of a new terminal building, related apron and taxiway system, and two quick departure taxiways. This is expected to be completed in 2029.

A further $92 million would be spent on improving the taxiway system, adding two more rapid exit taxiways, and building other relevant amenities such as more remote aircraft parking stands.

This phase is projected to be completed by 2035. Adan plans to invest $620 million in new facilities, with careful consideration for seamless integration with current infrastructure.

The Indian corporation proposes a city-side development with hospitality, business hubs, and other amenities for travellers and city inhabitants.

The corporation plans to manage the airport for 30 years before returning it to JKIA at a mutually agreed-upon value, resulting in an 18% internal rate of return on equity.IRR is a financial research statistic that estimates the profitability of possible investments. An investment with the highest likely IRR is deemed the best.

During the 30 years, Adani will be able to set dollar-denominated prices to airlines and other customers for its services at JKIA in a way that ensures an 18% IRR. Adani predicts that the JKIA upgrade will increase revenues from $163 million in 2025 ($47 million to the government) to $290 million in 2030, with the government receiving $52 million.

Revenue is projected to increase to $740 million in 2045, with the government contributing $70 million. By 2054, it will reach $1.2 billion, earning the state $76 million. JKIA’s existing Terminal 1 is divided into five segments with a total built-up area of approximately 70,000 square metres. The airport also features another 10,000-square-metre terminal, T2, for low-cost carriers.

Projections in the Adani proposals show that JKIA will handle 33 million people and one million tonnes of cargo by 2055, up from roughly eight million passengers and 0.5 million tonnes of cargo at the end of 2023.

Musings From Abroad

UN indicts warring parties in Sudan, calls for peacekeepers

Published

19 hours ago

September 6, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A United Nations-mandated panel stated on Friday that both sides in Sudan’s civil war had engaged in acts that may qualify as war crimes, and proposed that to protect civilians, international powers must expand the arms embargo and send in peacekeepers.

The report claimed to be based on 182 interviews with survivors, families, and witnesses. It detailed the rape, attacks, use of torture, and arbitrary arrests committed by Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against civilians.

“The gravity of our findings and failure of the warring parties to protect civilians underscores the need for urgent and immediate intervention,” the U.N. fact-finding mission’s chair, Mohamed Chande Othman, told reporters.

Both parties have denied previous allegations by rights organisations and the United States and accused one another of abusing power. Neither stated in reaction to the allegations or answered enquiries for comment on Friday right away.

Othman and the other two mission members demanded the immediate deployment of an independent force.

“We cannot continue to have people dying before our eyes and do nothing about it,” mission member Mona Rishmawi said. A U.N.-mandated peacekeeping force was a possibility, she added.

The mission advocated for the extension of an arms embargo now in place by the United Nations, which only covers the western part of Darfur and the thousands of documented ethnic killings there. Fourteen of the eighteen states in the country have been affected by the conflict that began in Khartoum in April of last year.

According to the mission, there were also good reasons to suspect that the RSF and its affiliated militias had perpetrated other war crimes, including kidnapping women forcing them into prostitution and recruiting minors as fighters.

Unnamed support groups had received allegations of over 400 rapes in the first year of the war, but mission member Joy Ngozi Ezeilo said the actual number was likely considerably higher.

Musings From Abroad

Chinese investments in Africa mutually beneficial, South Africa’s Ramaphosa insists

Published

2 days ago

September 5, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, said Thursday that Chinese investments in Africa were mutually beneficial and not a “debt trap” for the continent.

Ramaphosa stated this on the sidelines of a China-Africa meeting in Beijing, with delegations from over 50 African states.

“I don’t necessarily buy the notion that when China (invests), it is with the intention of, in the end, ensuring that those countries end up in a debt trap or a debt crisis,” Ramaphosa said when asked by reporters about China’s pledge at the summit of $51 billion in new funding for Africa.

China pledged to launch three times more infrastructure projects in resource-rich Africa, a region of significant geopolitical conflict between China, Europe, and the US, and to provide financial support over three years.

Ramaphosa also said, without providing details, that South Africa and China have secured an energy security pact. He claimed South Africa could learn energy sector reform from China.

“They already have done exactly what we are seeking to do. So there are lessons for us to learn from China and how to do it,” he said.

Power outages have slowed economic progress in South Africa in recent years. The country plans to pursue China’s largest electric vehicle producers, Ramaphosa added.

“We had good exchanges with BYD, which has shown a great interest to come and invest in South Africa,” he said.

Africa and China have strengthened commercial and political ties in recent decades. China is a major trading partner and lender. Additionally, Chinese companies invested heavily in Africa, making it a major investor in the continent.