Precious gift from friend: rail know-how

Country thanked for passing on expertise for running giant African infrastructure project

Kenya expressed its thanks to the Chinese government for helping pass on the knowledge needed for the expansion and modernization of its infrastructure network.

Kenya's ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Development says China Road and Bridge Corp - the contractor of the 1,300-kilometer-long Mombasa-Malaba Standard Gauge Railway and a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Co - has played a key role in transferring technology to Kenyans in readiness for operation of the rail network.

"As we look forward to commissioning of the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR in June this year, we are grateful that, through the help of CRBC, we now have qualified local technicians who are able to operate the rail network," said James Macharia, the ministry's cabinet secretary.

It wasn't until the commencement of construction of the SGR, the country's biggest infrastructure project since independence, that Kenya realized it lacked professional and skilled manpower for the railway's development, maintenance and subsequent operation.

CRBC in partnership with CCCC has partly addressed the challenge.

Since the initiation of the project in 2013, CRBC has trained more than 20,000 local employees and is now cooperating with Kenya's government-owned Railway Training Institute to train over 2,000 technicians.

So far, 557 students have been trained and are ready for employment after the commissioning of the new line in June.

The students have learned about driving, communication and signaling, station mastering, passenger and freight crew operations, track and rolling stock maintenance and power supplies.

Additionally, CCCC has committed to donating $10 million to build an engineering school at RTI in Nairobi. This will offer railway engineering courses aimed at producing qualified personnel to operate and maintain not only Kenya's SGR but also the entire East African regional railway network.

Last year, CRBC launched an undergraduate scholarship program sponsoring 100 Kenyan high school graduates to pursue railway engineering bachelor degree courses at Beijing Jiaotong University. So far, 60 students have gone to the university.

The program is aimed at supporting local capacity-building, technology transfers and availability of appropriate skills.

Praising the Chinese government for the initiatives, cabinet secretary Macharia says China has done what few donor partners would do - developing infrastructure at the same time as ensuring the availability of skilled manpower to operate it.

"We intend to develop at least 3,100 kilometers of SGR in order to achieve our Vision 2030; hence the need for the development of local capacity to provide the required skills. The CRBC scholarship program will help in providing the necessary skills," he says.

Macharia says the initiatives are an indication of the growing cooperation and friendship between China and Kenya.

The government's aspiration is to have Kenyans fully equipped with the requisite knowledge and acquire jobs within the East African region, he says.

The governments of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan have signed and ratified a protocol for joint development of a standard-gauge railway connecting Mombasa to Nairobi, Kampala (Uganda), Kigali (Rwanda) and Juba (South Sudan) with seamless operation across the borders.

Irungu Nyakera, principal secretary at the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Development, applauded CRBC for its commitment to ensuring that Kenya has qualified personnel.

"It's commendable that CRBC is helping the government ensure availability of relevant skills to implement and operationalize the infrastructure initiatives that we are undertaking," he said.

Atanas Maina, Kenya Railways' managing director, says that, in addition to constructing the railway network, CRBC introduced a corresponding activity-technology transfer, which is commendable.

"CRBC is playing a vital role in developing sufficient and sustainable manpower capacity. I thank the Chinese government, and CRBC in particular, for working with us toward a sustainable and long-term mutually beneficial relationship," he said.

edithmutethya@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 03/03/2017 page28)