Give us the skills and we will finish the job

Training puts country on track to build its own railways as Kenya's largest single infrastructure undertaking in more than half a century unfolds

A small step taken now may eventually turn into a giant step forward for a country that has just started to industrialize. Carpenters, machine operators, masons, surveyors and welders are not quite as prevalent as they need to be, and the increasing numbers acquiring these skills will eventually help African countries build railways and other major infrastructure by themselves.

This is what is happening in Emali, a small town along Kenya's busiest and often highly congested highway, which connects the seaside city of Mombasa and the capital, Nairobi. A 472-km railway using Chinese technology is being built parallel to the highway. The project, costing $3.8 billion, the largest single infrastructure undertaking by Kenya in more than half a century, is being billed as something that will eventually make the country the gateway to East Africa and other regions in the continent.

In a factory in Emali in the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway project's section No 7, dozens of Kenyans work on the production line turning out railway sleepers. They form bars into different shapes, put them into molds, pour concrete, operate a vibration machine to compact the concrete and then put the semi-finished sleepers into steam curing pools using a gantry crane.

After 10 hours in the 60 C pool, dozens of sleepers will leave the workshop, each with a number that identifies its date of manufacture, the maker and which batch of materials was used. Four Chinese technicians monitor the work to ensure quality.

Not far from the factory, more than 150 Kenyans work on T-shaped girders that will be used in railway bridges,with no intervention of Chinese staff in the series of procedures involved.

More than 90 percent of workers in the two production lines are Kenyans, almost all of whom previously had never used the kind of machinery they now operate or done similar work.

The remarkable thing is that they have learned how to do this work in little more than 20 weeks of on-the-job training by Chinese technicians working with China Road and Bridge Corporation.

That task has been all the more difficult given the language barriers. Many of the local workers, mostly from the local Masai and Kamba communities, speak only their mother tongues and Swahili.

One of the workers in the sleeper factory is Benard Okumbo, 29, a welder. He studied welding at a technical school in Mombasa from 2000 to 2002, but after graduation he ended up working as a guard.

"The machinery here is much more advanced and much more complicated than what I learned on at school," he says.

Over the past few months he has not only gained the skills needed to operate the machines but has also trained two of his colleagues.

The company managed to recruit trades- people such as electricians and welders, but with many types of work, recruits have had to learn from scratch.

"We have had to recruit 30 percent more people than we had planned and shift anyone who fails to master the skills to other positions," says Tian Haowen, a spokesman for Section No 7.

It usually takes one to two months to train a skilled worker on the production line, but training someone to use specialized equipment such as a gantry crane can take a lot longer.

"A gantry crane operator is key to our work, but the work can be very dangerous," Tian says. "The operator has to control not only the direction, height and speed but also to keep balance. If not controlled well, there will be accidents. We have to train them to move light objects first and then gradually give them more difficult tasks.

"We attach great importance to training locals for key positions. Once there are problems locals cannot handle, Chinese technicians need to be called in to help. If the local employees still cannot do the work, we put them in special training."

The company has been trying to train as many Kenyans as possible while limiting the involvement of Chinese in skilled jobs, an effort to maximize the transfer of skills the country needs.

Xu Weibing, the technical adviser of sleeper production, says the company had planned to send more than 30 Chinese to the factory, given that production procedures are complicated and locals are unacquainted with most of the machinery, but it eventually sent eight, two of whom have now been deployed elsewhere.

"We will bring in more Kenyan workers if we need to, but we're not bringing in anymore Chinese."

Zhang Juncun, who is in charge of making the T-shape girders, says only 35 of 43 Chinese technicians came to Kenya, and seven of those have been put on other work.

Section No 7's factory will make 397 T-shape girders and 490,000 sleepers for the railway, about half the total needed.

Donald Joseph Munana, a manager in charge of a team of 35 in Section No 3, says the number and variety of machines now being used is a revelation to him.

"When I was in college, these machines were not around. The Chinese man patiently taught us from the very basics how to use this machine. We cannot operate it on our own without any help."

Munana is now schooling 10 of his compatriots in the skills he has learned.

"In my time at CRBC I have worked with many people who have not even been to college, and they can do their jobs because of what they have learned from me. Now some are even in charge of certain sections, and others have got jobs with other companies."

CRBC employs more than 10,000 Kenyans and 1,900 Chinese on the rail project. The company says it has trained more than 1,300 management personnel.

Shen Yushan, assistant general manager of the project, says that in Section No 8 the company hopes at least half of its local employees will have picked up advanced skills once the project is complete.

Apart from providing training in carpentry, machine operating, masonry, surveying and welding, many are trained in single-gauge railway construction technology.

Lily Bridget Chepkemoi has worked in Section No 5's laboratory for about six months and says she can now conduct experiments independently. Five Chinese and five Kenyans work in the laboratory, which tests all materials used in Section 5, including the soil in the roadbed, to ensure it complies with quality standards.

Chepkemoi says she believes that with the skills she and her colleagues have picked up, Kenyans will be able to build railways themselves.

"Once we learn things, we will retain it and pass it onto the next generation."

The railway is due to be completed in 2017, and CRBC is training Kenyans to run and maintain it. With the Kenya Railway Corporation it is working on the idea of setting up a training school for future employees.

houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 06/12/2015 page16)