The County Government of Mombasa through the department of Youth, Gender, Sports and Cultural affairs has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Museums of Kenya (NMK).
The agreement was signed by Acting County Secretary Joab Tumbo and Director General National Museum of Kenya, Dr. Mzalendo Kibunja.
The MoU aims at strengthening the already bridged gap in revamping and conserving historical sites and monuments across the county.
The MoU follows a series of forums that involved Mombasa county residents together with Tourism stakeholders where promotion, preservation and restoration of Old Town and other tourist attraction sites were the main agenda.
Speaking during the event on Thursday, County Executive for Youth, Gender, Sports and Cultural affairs Kevin Munywoki Kyalo lauded the interdepartmental approach saying it will assist Mombasa achieve the milestone in putting it on a global map as well as enhance economic growth to the residents.
Mombasa Old Town which is a gazetted heritage site, has been neglected for many years and not treated as a world heritage site despite being in the buffer zone to Fort Jesus which is a UNESCO listed site.
According to Mzalendo Kibunja, the County Government of Mombasa in partnership with the National Museum of Kenya is set to embark on a Restoration Project that is estimated to cost around Sh2 billion for a period of 5 years.
The project is not only targeting to uplift the face of Old Town but to also improve public amenities in the surrounding areas as well as cater for areas like Kaya Shonda, Jomo Kenyatta public beach among other sites.
He further explained how other major cities like Paris and New York earn the highest from tourism in terms of historical sites and monuments thus expressed the need for locals to exploit the assets to realize revenue and make Mombasa a desired destination.
The sentiment was echoed by Mombasa Deputy Governor Dr. William Kingi who urged residents to selfishly guard their Environment so as to attain the set goal by ensuring high standards of cleanliness as well as initiate safety and security in their areas.