JKIA blackouts are now a thing of the past - CS Murkomen
The CS said there will now be a seamless transition to backup power during blackouts at JKIA.
Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has moved to allay fears of the frequent blackouts at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) saying he has been assured that they are now a thing of the past.
Murkomen said this after meeting the leadership of the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) and Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) on Tuesday.
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The meeting centred on the improvements being undertaken at JKIA to ensure it lives up to its billing as an airport of international repute.
"This evening, I received a status update from the leadership of KAA and KCAA. The KAA leadership has assured me that issues of blackouts at JKIA are now a thing of the past after they replaced the time-based system with a logic-based system that will allow a seamless transition to backup power during blackouts," the CS said.
Murkomen said manual interventions have also been put in place and the faulty control systems have been rectified.
He also assured Kenyans that the cabling systems have been expanded and inverters installed to avert blackouts at the airport by allowing a 15-second transition time.
The meeting was attended by Transport PS Mohamed Daghar, KAA Acting Managing Director Henry Ogoye, KCAA MD Emile Arao, and Director Air Transport Nicholas Bodo, among others.
The meeting comes a week after the CS formally requested the National Police Service to investigate possible acts of sabotage and coverup after JKIA was plunged into darkness after a nationwide power outage.
Murkomen said he was forced to make the move considering the frequency of the power disruption, and taking into account the fact that JKIA is a facility of strategic national importance.
Last week's blackout was the third of its kind in three months, affecting JKIA where the backup generators failed to power up.
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