The construction of the much awaited Nakuru International Airport will begin next month after the successful completion of the designs and necessary approvals.
The tender for the construction of the first phase of Ksh 400M modern airport will be opened in the next three weeks.
Already the county government of Nakuru is in discussion with partners for the establishment of an aviation school next to the airport where 700 acres have been set aside.
According to Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui, the airport will play a key role in elevating the county to a key tourist and business destination hub in the region.
Kinyanjui said this would make the county a regional destination for flights targeting the East African market.
“The first phase will have a 1.7Km runway and will be followed by the second phase with 3.1Km runway making it possible for jets and land and take off with ease,” he said.
Kinyanjui was speaking when he closed a three day Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA) annual conference at Enashipai Resort in Naivasha.
He said the county was setting up a site development fund that will help in rehabilitating all the tourism attraction sites as a means of increasing the number of visitors in the area.
Kinyanjui said the fund once established with encompass all stakeholders who will come up with ideas of setting up more centers where tourists including local can visit making the county a critical destination.
“Naivasha is one of the areas we are targeting in this latest push that will see the number of tourists increase significantly and help grow business”.
He said the Ksh 300M water front that will be constructed on the shores of Lake Naivasha will help improving tourism due to the many water sports activities that will set up.
Kinyanjui at the same time said they were working to ensure the leadership circus that stalls tourism activities every election year will be addressed if there will be constitutional changes in the country.
“Kenya is a beautiful country known globally but the culture of having problems every election period makes those in the tourism sector incur huge losses and we should look into ways to avoid the problems so that the industry can run smoothly”.
On his part KATA chairman Mohammed Wanyoike said they were looking into more areas of attraction making Kenya a brand in the tourism cycle as a way of increasing the number of tourists in the country.
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