"Structures choke Kenyan airport"

Sunday, January 16, 2005

Structures choke Wilson Airport 
By Evelyn Kwamboka
Kenya - The East African Standard


High-rise buildings and semi-permanent shacks have sprung up at the end of
the runways

Nairobi's Wilson Airport will soon be drowned in a mass of concrete, tin and
paper structures as residential areas around it continue to expand at an
alarmingly fast rate.

Our investigations have revealed that the airport's runways are chocking
with unauthorised residential structures that have been increasing by the
day. 

At the mouth of the commonly used runway to the south, tin and polythene
structures have sprouted up like mushrooms, subjecting the occupants to the
risk of being crushed in case of an undershot landing, crash landing or an
abortive take off.

The danger becomes even bigger considering that the airport, the busiest in
the region, is home to a large number of aviation colleges, and trainees
have to learn the most difficult parts of their course - take-off and
landing - in distractive circumstances.

At the end of the eastern runway, which is used sparingly, politically
connected people in the former government put up permanent storey buildings
several years ago, forcing the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) to construct
the southern runway.

Instead of the government stopping construction of the high-rise buildings,
KAA opted to construct the southern runway with the hope that there would be
no further encroachment onto the aircraft take-off and landing line.

At the time, a slum was slowly developing near the fence of the Nairobi
National Park, but its expansion was not expected to be so fast as to almost
block the new runway and the emergency gate.

A check last week found that a concrete wall is coming up even closer to the
airport fence adjacent to the eastern runway, apparently as a developer
prepares ground for a housing project.

To the south, some of the slum dwellers have now started constructing
semi-permanent buildings, which could be seen as a way of preparing to put
up permanent buildings.

"They have started building houses in the area and this is not allowed as
far as safety within the airport's environment is concerned," says KAA
managing director George Muhoho.

He says runway paths must remain clear so that emergencies during aircraft
take-off or landing can be tackled effectively and also to avoid ground
casualties in case of a crash.

Last month, a light aircraft carrying two passengers developed a mechanical
problem a few seconds after take-off and crash-landed near the southern
runway, barely a few metres from the fence.

"Had the aircraft crash-landed in the slum area, we would be talking of a
major disaster now," says Muhoho.

In February 1997, a 10-seater aircraft crash-landed at the airport, leading
to the closure of the runway for about two hours. These incidents illustrate
that the airport is prone to mild crashes, but which could turn catastrophic
if they were to happen in a crowded residential area, such as a slum.

At the Mtumba slum, life goes on as usual on a daily basis, with the
residents being oblivious of the lurking danger. Two schools in the area
conduct lessons smoothly, ignoring the deafening roar of planes that keep on
flying close to the classroom roofs during take-off and landing.

Since the squatters started moving to the area more than two years ago, KAA
has been pushing for their relocation to another site. Muhoho says he has
written several letters to the provincial administration to move the slum
dwellers, but in vain.

In a submission the KAA made to the Ndung'u land probe team, the institution
wants land on the flight paths allocated to individuals to be repossessed.

"The land is not ours now and it is our prayer that it is repossessed for
the safety of the people living there," Muhoho adds.

Besides, there are fears of aircraft sucking flying polythene papers
discarded by the slum dwellers during take-off. "When wind lifts plastic
papers in the air, chances of an aircraft sucking them are high and that is
quite dangerous," observes Muhoho.

The squatters have turned the land near the airport's fence into a garbage
dump, which is likely to attract crows and other birds that can distract
flights.

About the perimeter wall near the eastern runway, the Ministry of Lands says
the land, which is a swampy swathe, has not been allocated.

More than a year ago, KAA brought down a similar wall after several attempts
to have a private developer stop its construction failed.

"We brought the wall down some times back, and now we have written to the
developer several times, but in vain," says Muhoho, who now wants the
government to implement KAA's recommendations in the Ndung'u Report.

In the report on irregular allocation of public land countrywide, it is
recommended that allocation of land within the vicinity of airports should
be investigated.

Responding to Muhoho's concerns, Lands Permanent Secretary Erastus Mwongera
says KAA should purchase land to settle the squatters. "KAA should buy land
elsewhere and invite us to subdivide it amongst the squatters. This will
enable them to settle down in a decent village, solving their problem
permanently."

The PS says evicting the squatters and settling them temporarily will not
solve any problem.

At the same time, Mwongera warned: "Those putting up permanent structures in
the area have a lot of money to waste because the government has to
repossess all the land there."

He urged KAA to pull down the illegal wall and invited anyone with
complaints to channel them to the ministry.

Originally known as the Nairobi West Aerodrome, Wilson Airport began its
operations in 1929, when Britons Florence Kerr Wilson flew to England "from
an obscure airstrip in Lang'ata", together with Tom Campbell Black and
Archie Watkins.

Black, a pilot, wanted to start an air transport business and Florence had
the cash. From this airstrip, they decided to start the business with a
single Gipsy North aircraft.

Construction work was carried out and by 1933, two murram runways had been
laid out. 

Later that year, a commercial airline, Imperial Airways, which later became
Wilson Airways, commenced operations of an airmail service via Kisumu, along
the Nile to the UK.

During the Second World War, the military took control of the airfield and
in 1942, the Royal Navy commissioned it as an assembly and repair base for
its fleet until 1944.

The airport lay idle since until civilian flying started after the war.

In 1962, the Kenya Government renamed the Aerodrome, Wilson Airport, as a
tribute to Florence Wilson, the pioneer of Imperial Airways, who died in
1966.

The facility was then expanded into a major domestic airport for short-haul
domestic services, international and private training, as well as charter
flights.

Today, the airport hosts 27 companies with more than 200 light- and
medium-size aircraft operated by 400 pilots.

It is home to scores of planes chartered by aid workers in Southern Sudan,
the Great Lakes region and Somalia. It is also popular with tourists flying
out to game reserves.


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