Chivayo’s firm IMC wins US$2.9bn tender in Kenya

Business Reporter

ZIMBABWEAN businessman Mr Wicknell Chivayo’s company, IMC Construction Kenya, has won a tender to reconstruct and modernise the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) for US$2.9 billion.

The tender was initially awarded to the Indian firm Adani Group, at US$2 billion, and was cancelled and subsequently awarded to IMC Construction under a joint venture with state-owned China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).

The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) has not yet issued a detailed public breakdown of the final contract structure, but the project is expected to significantly increase capacity at the country’s main international gateway.

The expansion will add capacity for 15 million passengers annually through the construction of a new terminal, according to specifications released in February by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority.

JKIA currently handles about 8.8 million passengers per year, slightly above its original design capacity of eight million.

IMC Kenya partnered with state-owned China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) and its subsidiary China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) to undertake the massive project.

CCCC is a Chinese state-owned and publicly traded multinational engineering and construction company primarily engaged in the design, construction and operation of infrastructure assets, including highways, skyways, bridges, tunnels, railways (especially high-speed rail), subways, airports, oil platforms and marine ports.

CCCC has been a contractor for numerous Belt and Road Initiative projects. It was included in the Fortune Global 500 list for 2016.

The company had revenue of US$136 billion in 2023, net income of US$1.6 billion and net assets valued at US$361.4 billion.

Efforts to get a comment from Mr Chivayo were fruitless by the time of going to print, but highly placed CCC confirmed the awarding of the tender to the consortium led by the Zimbabwean businessman.

“The tender has been awarded to the joint venture between IMC Construction Kenya and China Communications Construction Company and construction should be completed within three years of the parties concluding the Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract,” said a CCCC executive on condition of anonymity.

Mr Chivayo wholly owns IMC Construction Kenya and has previously won multi-million dollar contracts back home, including the US$175 million tender to build the Gwanda 100 megawatt (MW) solar project,  US$163 million to repower Munyati Power Station and US$131 million to construct the 30MW Gairezi hydro power station.

Apart from IMC Kenya, Mr Chivayo also wholly owns Intratrek Zimbabwe, a major infrastructure and energy firm active in renewable energy projects and Intratrek Limited, a UK-registered company that functions as an international extension of his energy and business investments.

He founded IMC Communications, a Zimbabwean telecommunications firm that previously acquired an Internet Service Provider (ISP) license and has since pivoted into road construction and heavy civil works.

The businessman is also the proprietor of Edenbreeze, a South African-registered firm used to facilitate regional operations and logistics.