Nakuru gets economic boost with Sh100m airstrip

Nakuru town’s economy is set to get a major boost with the construction of a Sh100 million airstrip that will seek to tap into the Central Rift’s vast potential as a tourism hub.

Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) says the airstrip, to be located in the Pipeline area about 15 kilometres from the town centre, will be designed to accommodate medium-sized planes with a capacity of up to 60 passengers— which are popular with international tourists on local routes.

It is also expected that the proposed airstrip will ease the transportation of perishable goods—including horticultural produce meant for the export market— which are presently transported by road to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, the country’s main airport.

“Considering its (Nakuru) importance as an international tourist destination, the potential for usage of this mode is high and should therefore be developed,” said the authority in its application for the project’s approval.

Details of the projects show that the airstrip will cover over 280 acres and that the local community had approved of its construction mid last year.

KAA projects that improving air transportation will accelerate Nakuru’s economic growth, which was found to have been the fourth-fastest growing town in the World in a 2011 survey done by the United Nations.

The only other air transport facilities in the town are owned by the military and are not accessible to the public, leaving visitors to the town the option of relying mostly on road transport.

Naishi Airstrip, owned by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) which is located within Nakuru National Park is much smaller than the proposed one and tourists opting to access the facility by air have to charter a plane.

Julius Kipng’etich, the KWS director, said the proposed airstrip will boost tourism to the park since it will allow commercial flights to the town, especially those originating from the coastal towns of Mombasa and Malindi.

“Our capacity at the Naishi Airstrip is already strained, the main constraint is space to keep the aircraft while the tourists are on safari through the park,” said Mr Kipng’etich. He added that most visitors to the park are single-day visitors, who go back to the coast on the same day or are enroute to the rest of the western tourist circuit.

“The planned facility will boost the number of visitors to the wider area including the Maasai Mara,” said the director, who added that KWS was planning to introduce early bookings to regulate the number of tourists visiting Lake Nakuru Park at any time.

The park attracts the highest number of visitors than any other of the 40 plus facilities managed by KWS.

Flamingoes are the biggest attraction in the Lake Nakuru National Park, which is also home to other wildlife species like the white rhinos and leopards. Lake Baringo and Lake Bogoria are other key tourist attraction sites that will benefit from close proximity to Nakuru after the airport’s construction.

The nearby Naivasha town is home to Kenya’s flower industry, which depends on the export market for over 90 per cent of its sales but the produce has to be transported by refrigerated carriages to Nairobi to preserve their freshness.

mmichira@ke.nationmedia.com