Meru governor Kiraitu Murungi has called on the Kenya Forest Service and the Kenya Wildlife Service to cede all conservation and tourism sites to the county government.
Kiraitu said the county government intends to build high-end hotels, arboretums and recreational parks within these sites to attract tourists.
Kiraitu appealed to private investors to partners with the county to help utilise the sites and establish monuments, cultural heritage sites and picnic sites among other tourist attractions.
He said the county wants to turn Lake Nkunga, King Muuru, the Elephant maternity and Ngare Ndare Forest among others into income generating sites.
“We are here to deliberate with KFS, KWS and other stakeholders in the conservation and eco-tourism on our forests. We want to develop recreational parks within our municipality turn it into money generating rather than a curse that has been associated with before due to human/wildlife conflicts,” Kiraitu told journalists in Meru on Tuesday.
