Young Japanese tourists board tour vans at the port of Mombasa. FILE PHOTO | NMG
The tourism sector could get a Sh6 billion boost if plans to amend the Air Passenger Charge Act 2016 are successful.
MPs
want the amendment to unlock the cash that the Treasury has been
collecting to plug a budget deficit in the Ministry of Tourism.
Parliamentary
Committee on Sports, Tourism and Culture says the changes will see the
Ministry of Tourism included in the law as a beneficiary of the Kenya
Airports Authority (KAA) Fund established under the Act.
The
committee said the ministry plans to undertake several projects
including the construction of Kenyatta International Convention Centre
(KICC) annex that is expected to expand capacity of the facility to host
global conferences and exhibitions at a cost of Sh27 billion.
It also plans to spent Sh29 billion to construct the Mombasa
International Convention Centre that will market Kenya as a conference
tourism destination in the region and internationally.
The planned building of Nairobi International Convention Exhibition Centre is estimated to cost Sh17 billion.
The ministry also plans to upgrade of Mama Ngina drive waterfront into a modern recreation area of global standards.
The MPs said the amendments to the Air Passenger Service Act would unlock funding for the key priority projects.
“This
would propel the unlocking of Sh6 billion that has been collected since
the enactment of the Act by the national Treasury interns of air
passenger taxes and enable it to meet the deficits in budget policy
statement,” Victor Munyaka, who chairs the committee said in a brief to
the Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC). MPs last week adopted BAC
report on the Budget Policy Statement.
The KAA Act establishes the fund where all proceeds from the levy collected under the Air Passenger Service Charge
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