The Moi International airport Mombasa is set to undergo an upgrade.

According to the Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia project which involves the  rehabilitation of Airside Pavements and Airfield Ground Lighting System at the airport will cost a total of USD 70 Million ( sh7 Billion).

Macharia who was accompanied by his Tourism counterpart Najib Balala witnessed the ground breaking ceremony of the project at the airport, the project is expected to  take 24 months to be completed.

In his speech Macharia emphasized on the need for the airport to operate to its maximum capacity. 

He asserted "This airport is the main airport serving the coast region and accounts to over 80 per cent of all international tourists coming to Kenya,"

According to CS Balala, the airport has a capacity to handle two million people annually but it only gets 300,000 passengers annually.

He called for support from all stakeholders to ensure that the airport operates more planes in order to also boost the tourism industry which is the backbone of the region (Coast).

"Moi International Airport cannot rely on charter business alone, we need more international scheduled airlines" argued Balala.

Currently, there are a total of  15 charter flights coming to Mombasa every week up from nine last year.