Members of Parliament passed the bill and mini-budget which will see the upgrade of both Central and Uhuru parks upgraded to international standards.
The renovation of the two parks which started last year in September will cost a whooping Ksh.1 billion following approval of the funds by Nairobi’s Members of the County Assembly.
“While NMS has invested heavily in the renovation of Michuki Memorial Park, which investment has greatly boosted the usage of the park with greater numbers visiting the refurbished park on a daily basis, the same has not materialised for Uhuru Park and Central Park which remain in a state of disrepair,” said Majority leader Abdi Guyo.
Last week, President Uhuru Kenyatta paid a visit to Uhuru Park to check the progress of the reconstruction works. The National Metropolitan Service(NMS) has recently demolished the well-known Uhuru Park pavilion to pave the way for reconstruction while renovation works at Central Park are ongoing.
However NMS is yet to receive the funds after Parliament’s approval of the Supplementary Appropriations Bill, 2022 which sanctions the withdrawal of funds from the Consolidated Fund.
“NMS requested the National Treasury for consideration of the funds to undertake the projects which were granted but was to be accessed through the 2021/22 supplementary budget and not Article 223 of the Constitution,” chairperson of the National Assembly’s Committee on Administration and National Security, Peter Mwathi said.
The hospitality sector has also been in a ramp-up exercise to see improved services following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic which created a dent in the sector.
To tap more revenue after easing coronavirus-induced restrictions, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has said will increase charges for activities undertaken in parks and reserves.
Users will start paying for activities like the use of drones, shooting videos and lion tracking as KWS increases charges.
The use of drones and the shooting of videos for commercial reasons will now cost visitors, Ksh.5,000 each. Lion tracking and participating in KWS research activities and census will cost Ksh.10,000.
A parking fee of Ksh. 300 per day will also be charged to visitors not using cars for game drives at parks including Nairobi National Park, Malindi, Mombasa, Shimoni, Longonot, Hells gate and Lake Nakuru.
Kenya depended on International travelers for tourism revenues, but this was cut short by the hit of the pandemic, which led to reliance on domestic tourists to stay afloat.
With the COVID-19 measures reduced the tourism sector is slowly rising up and is projected to increase to Ksh.172.89 billion from Ksh.146.51 recorded in 2021.
