The Kenya Airports Authority has been urged to improve facilities at Nyaribo airstrip in Nyeri to enable it to offer better services.
The airfield lacks essential facilities such as toilets and a proper fence. It is bushy with overgrown grass while the terminal building has been condemned because of cracked walls.
The toilets have big cracks and are on the verge of collapsing.
Captain Godwin Wachira of Flight Training Centre who trains pilots at the airfield said a perimeter fence around the airfield is needed to prevent animals and people from trespassing.
“Sometimes we get people crossing from one side of the runway to the other and this is a hazard to an aircraft coming in to land, not only to the flying school aircrafts but also to other aircraft,” he said.
“So if they can secure the area to make sure that there are no people and animals moving around, that will be very good.”
Wachira said the compound should be kept tidy by clearing the bushes and trimming the grass. The animals pose a danger, especially when a plane is coming to land or taking off, as they can be hit.
“When you are coming in to land or when taking off, you do not want to encounter any obstacle on the runway because if you hit an animal, even as small as a goat, it can cause big damage to an aircraft,” he said.
“That is why runways should be kept free from animals.”
The terminal building and toilets were hurriedly constructed about a year before former president Mwai Kibaki retired. But they were condemned after cracks emerged on walls.
The elevated water tank constructed alongside the structures was emptied as the stand could not hold the weight of the tank when full.
The structures were constructed with the hope that the retired President would use the airfield during his retirement in Mweiga a few kilometres away.
“These facilities will help us very much because right now as it is, there is no facility, even something as important as a toilet,” Wachira said.
The airstrip manager David Kyule told the Star that the construction of a VIP lounge at the airfield will start soon and the contractor is on site.
The contractor, Ongata Works Limited, has already erected a signage for construction of the lounge.
