Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho is among 21 personalities honoured for achieving major milestones in the transport sector in 2020 despite facing setbacks caused by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The list, titled 21 Heroes 2021, was released by international based organisation Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI).
Joho joined the likes of business mogul and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Ethiopian Minister of Transport Dagmawit Moges, Belgian Minister, Region Elke Van den Brandt, Colombia Transport Secretary of Medellín, Carlos Cadena-Gaitan.
Elon Musk, who recently surpassed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos as the wealthiest man in the world, was honoured for pushing the boundaries of electric mobility through the development of electric vehicles.
The organisation profiled Joho as a governor who understands the intricacies behind transport and socio economic developments.
"Hassan has successfully introduced several mobility and road safety projects, including wider footpaths, tabletop crossings to reduce pedestrian fatalities, bicycle parking, and streetlights to guarantee security for residents,” read part of a statement by TUMI.
Further, the organisation listed developments among them upgrading of walkways in Mombasa Central Business District (CBD), reallocation of car parking spaces to pedestrians and introduction of strict parking policies to prevent vehicles from parking on walkways.
They noted that these projects and policies implemented by Joho contributed to the transformation within the transport sector in Mombasa county.
The 21Heroes2021 list is aimed at highlighting and profiling notable individuals who laid the groundwork for a more sustainable mobility within their own respective fields.
"The individuals highlighted in this publication are a small, yet powerful, selection of many that are actively contributing to make mobility future-oriented, safe, inclusive and sustainable," part of the statement from TUMI's website reads.
In the past 5 years, Mombasa County has undergone various transformations within the infrastructural sector. From construction of roads, installation of street lights, footpaths, traffic lights, the county government has previously noted its initiatives towards infrastructural growth in order to spur economic growth.
“In the last five years, after the introduction of devolution we have achieved a lot and constructed more roads than ever before. We have constructed over 100km of roads," County Executive Member in charge of Transport, Infrastructure and Public Works Taufiq Balala stated in a past interview.
