Kenya Engineer Journal, March-April 2012

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4 KENYA ENGINEER - MAR / APR 2012

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CONTENTS

NEWS...................................1-41PICTORIAL........................40-41COVER STORY..................42- 49IRRIGATION...................... 50-52EDUCATION.....................53-55HYDRO-POWER..............56-59ESA..........................................59IEK......................................60-62

Magazine of the Institution ofEngineers of KenyaRegistered Office: MOPW &HBuilding, P O Box 45754- 00100,Nairobi

Correspondence should be addressed to the Institution. Kenya Engineer is published every two months. Views expressed in this Journal are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of the Institution.©Copyright: Reproduction of any ar-ticle in part or in full is strictly prohib-ited without written permission from the Institution of Engineers of Kenya.

Editorial Committee:A A McCorkindale – ChairmanF W Ngokonyo - Vice-ChairmanN O BookerJ N KariukiProf M KashordaS M NgareAllan MuhaliaA W OtsienoS K KibeM MajiwaJ Kimani

Published by:Intercontinental Publishers LtdP O Box 45754-00100 NairobiTel: 4443649/50/72,Cell: 0719 207 712Fax: 4443650Email: [email protected]/[email protected]

MARCH / APRIL 2012

Dear Editor,

I acknowledge with thanks receipt of the above magazine. I find the Kenya Engineer is very interesting reading also for a Retired Engineer

like me.However, in the article, ’Designing Kenya’s Skyscrapers’ by Eng. I. B. Pa-tel I respectfully wish to point out that the following sentence is not correct, quote: “Apart from Kenyatta Confer-ence Centre, which was designed by Gordon Melvin and Partners, the Lil-lian Towers – a design of Messrs. H. S. Birdi & Associates and the Times Tower – a Howard Humphreys (K) Ltd. Production, all other tall buildings found within and outside the Central Business District of Nairobi were de-signed by Messrs. Mangat, I. B. Patel & Partners.” Unquote.While it is appreciated that Messrs. Mangat, I. B. Patel & Partners have had the “Lion’s Share” of the high-rise buildings in Nairobi, other compa-nies than those mentioned in the ar-ticle have also been involved. In the nineteen-seventies and eighties Carl

Letters to the Editor

Bro Kenya Ltd. Or Carl Bro Roughton & Partners, as the firm was originally called, was quite heavily engaged as a consulting engineering firm in the building sector in Kenya. In Nairobi it carried out, amongst other projects, the structural design and supervision of the Central Bank of Kenya, the 21 Storey Annex to the City Hall, the Diamond Jubilee Bldg. and the 14 Storey Rahimtulla Trust Fund Bldg. at Moi Avenue, Hughes Building at Jomo Kenyatta Avenue, the French Cultural Center and the 10 Sto-rey Commercial Bank of Kenya in the Industrial Area.Otherwise, I find that the article is very good and I have noticed that the Author Mr. I. B. Patel himself, the most hardworking and successful structural engineer I have ever met in Kenya, and with whom I always used to have a very nice working relationship.

From Jens Bang, Former E. A. Area Mng. Carl Bro.

Dear Mr. Bang,Thanks for your feed back and being loyal reader of the Kenya Engineer publication, I do regret that omission.

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KENYA ENGINEER - MAR / APR 2012 5

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Launch of the 18.5bn Euro LAPSSET Corridor

O n 2nd of March this year, President Mwai Kibaki launched the construction of a massive port, railway

and refinery – The LAPSSET corridor at Lamu. President Mwai Kibaki, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir unveiled a plaque at a ceremony to mark the official start of building works in Lamu.Addressing the gathering, President Kibaki reiterated the need for coopera-tion between the three countries, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya. He cautioned the locals against incite-ment from quarters that are opposed to the project. He further echoed the prime minister sentiment that any local that will be affected with the construction of the multi billion project will fully be com-pensated according to laws of Kenya. He finally appealed for all the involved parties to play their role to ensure that the project is a success. The two visiting heads of state talked of good bilateral trade, social and political cooperation that their countries have enjoyed with

Kenya. The prime minister of Ethiopia men-tioned of the plans of the Ethiopian gov-ernment to inject the Kenya National power grid with up to 1000Mw on the other hand the President of South Sudan praised Kenya of her role during their struggle for independence. Mr. Salvar Kiir noted that the North, Republic of Sudan was not happy with her efforts to channel her oil through the Lamu port.The Prime Minister Raila Odinga and the Vice president Kalonzo Musyoka, in their addresses called for maximum cooperation from the local leaders and urged the residents to embrace peace and tranquility. Earlier before the launch date, Civil Societies that were opposed to the port development had mobilised the residents of Lamu to demonstrate to show their dissatisfaction to the govern-ment. The ceremony was also graced by all members of parliament in Lamu County, led by the minister of Trade and Devel-opment Mr. Amos Kimunya.

The government agencies that will im-plement the project include; Kenya Maritime Authority, Kenya Ports Author-ity, Kenya National Highway Author-ity, Ministry of Transport, the Treasury among others.Amos Kimunya, Minister of Trade and Industry observed that the $24.5 billion project will turn Kenya into a regional economic hub and propel it to become a middle-income economy in the next two decades.The launch was full of pop and colour. Dancers and singers marked the formal start of the construction at the inaugura-tion. Most of the area that was heavily covered by pristine mangrove forest is al-ready being cleared. The National Youth Service continues to erect a parameter wall around the area. The port is to be constructed with 32 berths and be connected to Ethiopia and oil-rich South Sudan by a super-highway, a railway and a pipeline to export Juba’s crude. The project is expected to be funded by regional financial institutions, governments and international lenders, with China believed to have major stake.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki (Centre), S.Sudanese President Salva Kiir (Right), Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi laying the foundation of the Lamu Port Project

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Futile plans to produce biofuel through the jatropha plant have seen the country turn to other means of producing the biofuel.A

Kenyan company,Webco has turned to ethanol for biofuel production. It has in-vested Sh12 billion in building of a bio-fuel complex for production of fuel etha-nol from tropical sugar beet in Bungoma. The ethanol fuel will replace the jat-ropha plant which had been grown in some parts of the country as a weed un-til the year 2000 when the government preached of the biofuel benefits of the jatropha seeds and farmers started farm-ing the plant. This however did not go on for long since it faced a lot of resistance from environmentalists due to the envi-ronmental disorder that the plant could have caused. It was argued that the plant which thrives well in arable lands could have used up a lot of land which instead would have been used for agriculture.Webco which is being funded by inves-

Sh12 Billion Invested in a Biofuel Complex in Bungoma

tors from Britain, China and Qatar to-gether with commercial banks like Bank of Africa and Equity Bank will blend the ethanol with petrol for road transport use. The fuel ethanol will then be sold in bulk to Kenol Kobil and National Oil Co-operation for blending and distribution. Although the company will produce fuel ethanol as the main product, other prod-ucts like biogas and liquid carbon diox-ide will also be produced.Farmers from the area have already signed letters of intent to sell their land for construction to commence and accord-ing to Mr Pius Wanyama, the company’s president, farmers who have agreed to be moved will be paid Sh800,000 for an acre of land. Most farmers in the area rely on sugarcane as the main cash crop, which matures within 18 months. “A total of 521 farmers with 14,798.8 hec-tares of land are willing to participate in growing sugar beet,” said Mr Pius Wany-ama, the company’s president.

Speaking during a visit to farmers who have been contracted to grow the crop, Mr Wanyama said “research for the pro-duction of tropical sugar beet to be pro-cessed to produce fuel ethanol and its core products has been concluded.”Bio ethanol can be produced from sev-eral materials among them sugarcane, sugar beet, molasses, maize and other grains. Construction commencing im-mediately. The first trail run is expected early next year.

‘Bio ethanol can be pro-duced from several ma-terials among them sugarcane, sugar beet, molasses, maize and other grains.

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NEWS


KenGen has signed a contract for development of the 280MW geothermal power project at

Olkaria. The Ksh11.6 billion contract being funded by World Bank and De-velopment Bank KfW of Germany was signed with Sinopec International Pe-troleum Company (SIPC) who won the contract after competitive bidding.The Chinese firm will develop a steam field in 27 months. The steam field will comprise of steam pipelines, steam separators and seam filled control sys-tem to deliver steam from the geother-mal wells to Olkaria 1 unit 4, 6 and Olkaria IV power plants each with a capacity of 140 megawatts. The project set to be complete by mid 2014 will see a further 25 per cent of the current energy capacity injected into the national grid. According to KenGen’s MD Eddy Njoroge, there’s already sufficient steam to generate over 380 megawatts of geothermal power in Olkaria.The power project last year got a Sh7.4 billion boost from Germany’s Development Bank KFW to fund con-sultancy services and part of the steam field drilling works. The money given was to also fund the extension of Ol-karia one and Olkaria IV power sta-tion project targeted for completion by end of 2013. The overall cost of the project is Sh83 billion and is being co-funded by KenGen, World Bank, European In-vestment Bank, Japan International Corporation Agency and French De-velopment Agency, AFD.Kenya is targeting to develop 5000 MW of geothermal power by year 2030 as stipulated in the country’s planning document Vision 2030.

Olkaria Gets Sh11.6B for the Geothermal Power Project

A Japanese firm, Toyota has made a proposal to build the oil pipeline under the Lamu Port-Southern Sudan and-

Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) project. This comes weeks after the presi-dent urged interested investors to come in and help accelerate this and other projects under the vision 2030.Toyota through its trade and investment arm,Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC) and the government of Kenya are set to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to allow it intensify its invest-ments in the different sector in the coun-try.The pipeline is one of the components under the mega LAPSSET Corridor which was launched last month. The project to be undertaken by Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia will also include the con-struction of a new port in Lamu, a railway line to South Sudan and Ethiopia refinery and resort cities in northern Kenya.The company announced its inter-est to invest in the project in the year 2010 where it proposed to build the

1400 kilometer-long oil export pipeline stretching from Juba, Southern Sudan to the Coastal town of Lamu at an a cost of Sh114 billion. It would then run the pipeline for 20 years so as to recoup its investment and thereafter transfer its ownership to the two governments. According to the company, the project is billed as its biggest investment of the decade.This will not be Toyota’s first investment in the country’s energy sector. In Novem-ber last year, the Japanese trading firm and Hyundai Engineering Co of South Korea were awarded the biggest contract in the power project of building geother-mal plants at a cost Sh40 billion.Toyota is divided into six major business divisions that include metals, machinery and electronics, automotive, energy and chemicals. It also has divisions that deal with produce, foodstuff and other mate-rials. Its huge catalogue of planned invest-ments includes participation in geother-mal power generation and field develop-ment.

Motor Firm Bids to Invest in the Lamu-S.Sudan Pipeline

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KenGen’s 300 megawatts coal plant project moved closer to reality after the government se-cured alternative land in Kilifi.

The initial site for the plant in Mombasa had been termed unfit because it was on a flight path.The government has indicated in the lat-est Kenya Gazette that it will buy 400 acres through compulsory acquisition to build the coal fired plant that has been on radar since 2009.The facility, which is expected to cost Sh104 billion was relocated from its initial site after the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority said that the power’s stations chimney would be too high and, there-fore, pose a danger Moi International Air-port’s runway.“A coal plant of this capacity is relatively complex to construct and it would take up to four years before any generation begins,” said Kaburu Mwirichia, the di-rector general of the Energy Regulatory Commission.This plant is part of the government’s low-cost power production plan that will ease the demand pressures we are experiencing. The coal-fired plant will

be built on a joint venture basis with the winning bidder owning a 60 per cent stake. KenGen will own the rest of the plant but they could raise their stake to 49 per cent.The initial contract had been awarded to a South Korea firm, Daewoo Engineering & Construction Company Limited. We could not confirm if firm still held the contract for the Kilifi plant by time of go-ing to press.KenGen sources 46 per cent of its power from hydro-power stations but is racing to cut its reliance on the weather-de-pendent source with coal, geothermal, wind power plants being its options. Thermal power makes up 45 per cent of its installed capacity while geothermal and wind energy comprises 12 and two

per cent respectively.“We are highly dependent on hydro leading to use of emergency thermal power in times of dry hydrology, which is much more expensive,” said Managing Director Eddy Njoroge while announcing the company’s results for the six months to December. Kenya Electricity Transmission Company has already contracted Indian firm Kalpa-taru to build a Sh7.4 billion 400 kilovolts line to be used to transfer electricity the thermal power stations in the coastal area to Nairobi.Targeted plants other than coal facility include the 90 megawatt Rabai diesel plant that is operational and a 120 mega-watt diesel facility also being put up by KenGen.Coal energy has remained top of the gov-ernment’s key projects having already announced the concessioning of coal blocks within Mui Basin, Kitui for explo-ration, exploitation and development.To accelerate that, the government has created four coal blocks for lease to pro-spective investors.A study on viability of the coal deposits has been done in some of the blocks.

300 Megawatts Coal Facility to be Built in Kilifi

‘This plant is part of the gov-ernment’s low-cost power production plan that will ease the demand pressures we are experiencing

NEWS


K enya Petroleum Refineries Lim-ited (KPRL) will from July 1st start operating as a merchant refinery where it will import its

crude oil, refine it and sell the products at a profit to the Kenyan market and ex-port. The firm has been operating as a toll refinery since inception 50 years ago, whereby oil marketers have been import-ing crude oil and processing at the refin-ery for a fee.The facility is to be modernized at an estimated cost of Sh90 billion and is set to be fully completed by 2015.It will increase production of high value prod-ucts and ensure they comply with inter-national environmental standards. After the upgrade, the refinery is expected to generate its own electricity and reduce reliance on power from the national grid that has in the past been blamed for major break-downs. The upgrade is also expected to sharply reduce the cost of refining oil.

KPRL to Convert from Toll to Merchant Refinery

The refinery’s annual production is set to increase from the current 1.6 million metric tonnes to 4 million metric tonnes of petroleum products. The products in-clude super petrol, diesel, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas. This is however below the local demand estimated to be six million tonnes.“The current state and old technology of the 50-year old refinery limits its ability to produce higher value petroleum prod-ucts for the Kenyan market” said KPRL managing director Bimal Mukherjee.

The move by KPRL will free marketers to buy products from other international re-fineries as opposed to the current struc-ture that requires that they process about 50 per cent of the monthly demands at the refinery. According to many market-ers, processing products at the refinery is more costly than importing already re-fined products. It will also allow them to import large amounts of refined products and remove the risk of shortages should the refinery breakdown.The ownership of the refinery is split between the government and Essar Oil & Gas of India. The Indian-owned Essar took 50-per cent shareholding of the re-finery three years ago after Shell, BP and Chevron put up their combined share-holding under a block sale. Standard Chartered last year won the bid as KPRL’s financial adviser while Gulf Energy and Kenol Kobil are the two marketers who will be importing super petrol on behalf of the industry.

‘The ownership of the refinery is split between the government and Essar Oil & Gas of India

Kenya Pipeline refineries Limited facility at the Kenyan Coast

NEWS


The Mumias Sugar Company has refuted critics that their Bagasse Power plant is a flop.

The company insists that the project is not a flop and that it is in opera-tion. According to Patrick Shilisia an employee of Mumias, the company is still in operation and power produc-tion is still on.“The power plant in the company is still in operation”, said Patrick Shilisia an official in the company.He point-ed out that the company is currently producing 34MW of which 26MW is sold to Kenya Power. The exported power is sold at six Euro cents while the rest is used by the company. The power production rate has however dropped from 35MW as it was ini-tially set to produce. He pointed that the company is at times faced with shortage of cane and thus the under production of power.The project was started in 2006 with the aim of satisfying the ever increas-ing demand for electricity in the country with clean alternative to the fossil-fuel based electricity compo-nent of the national grid. It was sit-ed elsewhere that the company was planning on getting more bagasse for the plant since they were not pro-ducing enough.Mr.Shilisia however cleared this saying that the company was not sourcing any bagasse and that they were using their own.Bagasse is a waste-product from cane after it has been processed which in other countries is used to produce power for the sugar factories as well as feed the national grid.

Bagasse Power Plant is No Flop, Says Mumias Company

Kenya Power seeks to connect an additional 300,000 consumers to the national grid in two years time

to the current number of 1.9 million. The company has signed an agreement with the World Bank’s soft-lending arm, the International Development Association to fund the power expansion project.The project to be implemented by Kenya Electricity Expansion Program (KEEP) will cover areas in Eastern Province, Rift Valley and Western province which are not yet under the national grid. It will comprise of six contracts including the two 132kV substations at Eldoret and Ki-tale set to cost Sh418 million and 132kV substations at Kisii and Awendo at the same cost. The two contracts have been awarded to ABB South Africa Ltd.The projects will connect Garissa to the national grid for the first time, unlocking the town’s potential by increasing power

distribution in the area and spurring the growth of new businesses. The town uses a generator for its power needs. Anoth-er power transmission circuit will link Kindaruma, Mwingi and Garissa with substations and transformers at the three locations at a total cost of Sh1.3 billion.The substations and transformers will be built by an Indian contractor M/S KEC International India Ltd while the power line will be built by M/S Tata of India.Kenya Power last year grew its earn-ings to Sh4.2 billion from Sh3.7 billion on the back of increased customers that lifted revenues to Sh43 billion from Sh39 billion. However, the Kenya Power man-aging director, Joseph Njoroge said the country’s electricity demand has peaked to a high of 1,236MW from about 1,194MW last year and is soon expected to hit 1500MW on increased economic activity.

Expansion Program to Connect 300,000 to National Grid


E lectricity power has been a ma-jor problem especially in those countries undergoing major infrastructural developments

like Kenya. Most countries in the Nile Equatorial region demand more elec-tricity than they can produce resulting to frequent power shortages. Most rely on hydro-power which is frequently disrupted by climatic changes while some are looking at the possibility of nuclear energy .The need to curb these power related issues in the region led to the formation of the Interconnection

of Electricity Grids Project of the Nile Equatorial Lakes Countries September 2009. The interconnection is for creating a power exchange market among those member countries with the aim of re-ducing the cost of power supply, ensure security of supply and optimization in the use of the energy resources. It is to involve the construction and strengthen-ing of interconnection of electricity net-works of five countries, namely, Burun-di, DRC, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda in order to improve transboundary power

exchange among those countries.The interconnection electricity net-work in these countries is composed of different components that will cov-er more than 700 km of new transmis-sion lines and 262 km to be upgraded. However, each country is to imple-ment the project portion located on its territory and a Coordination Unit es-tablished at NELSAP is to coordinate the implementation of the project at regional level. Some projects like the Ethiopia –Ken-ya power interconnection underway

Connecting Eastern AfricaThrough Power Lines

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already.The Ethiopia –Kenya power intercon-nection project will involve laying out a 1,045-kilometre high voltage electricity transmission line and building of a base

station at Suswa from where power lines will be pulled up to Sodo in Ethiopia. The transmission line route runs ad-jacent to the Marsabit –Moyale road southwards avoiding the Marsabit Na-tional Park. This interconnection will al-low Kenya to import up to 2000MW of power from Ethiopia.Other interconnections include the Kenya-Tanzania interconnection project. This project includes the construction and operation of a 510-km 400 kV in-terconnection power line. The intercon-nection will start from a proposed Kenya Electricity Transmission Co. Ltd. (KET-RACO) 400 kV substation at Isinya in Kenya, 50 km south of Nairobi and then follow the alignment established under the Nairobi-Arusha line study up to Aru-

sha, in Tanzania. From Arusha, the line will continue to Singida, where a 400 kV substation is planned by Tanzania Elec-tric Supply Co. (TANESCO).This interconnection is to become a criti-cal link in a future regional power pool, facilitating power exchange and the de-velopment and integration of electricity markets between Burundi, DR Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.Elsewhere, Uganda and DR Congo is to extend the Uganda electricity network to Beni and Bunia in DR Congo through a transmission line Nkenda – Beni - Bunia. The future interconnections between Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern DR Congo that are expected to be operational in 2014 under NELSAP creating a power pool.

‘The Ethiopia –Kenya power interconnection project will involve laying out a 1,045-kilometre high volt-age electricity transmission line and building of a base

NEWS


K enya Power will spend Ksh20 billion to oversee converting of all the overhead power lines to the underground cables in the

major cities; Nairobi, Kisumu and Mom-basa. The move comes at a time when the country is undergoing major infra-structural revolutions. The project will involve laying a total of 645km of 11kilo volts lines and 1,570km low voltage power lines underground. The high volt-age lines will be laid 1metre under the ground while the low voltage ones will lay half a metre underground. Addition-al 1,235 pads mounted stations will be grounded in various parts of the cities.The move follows a successful pilot pro-ject that saw a 2.5km underground pow-er cabling from a substation in Nairobi to State House. Nairobi will have 375Km of 11Kv cabling and 930Km of low voltage cabling with 740 pad-mounted substa-tions. Mombasa will see 200Km of 11Kv and 400Km of low voltage cabling and establish of 330 pad-mounted stations.The Kenya Power Company which is still working on the cable designs considers

the move viable and a good one since it will not only promote reliable delivery of electricity but will also see reduced power interruptions by environmental factors as well as vandalism. “The performance of the underground system has less interference and less influence by environmental factors and has better aesthetics,” said John Njoroge, MD Kenya Power.The Underground cables are also con-sidered environment friendly as they remove the need for timber poles, prun-ing of trees to make way for lines, and reduce emissions from electromagnetic

fields. This will help see the company save up to Ksh3 billion annually. “It will have huge savings! We are talk-ing of a saving of about Sh3billion every year,” Njoroge said. The project could experience some de-lays following concerns raised from various stakeholders in the water, roads and telecom sectors fearing interruption of service delivery. They are requesting more time in the planning phase of the project. “Failure to share maps of infrastructure layouts among government agencies, private companies and contractors has caused for confusion when construction projects overlap or disrupt service de-livery across sectors”, pointed out Nai-robi Provincial Commissioner Njoroge Ndirangu during a stakeholders meeting.Following this, Kenya Power Company has engaged players from the Nairobi City Council, Kenya Pipeline Company, Kenya Urban Roads Authority, Ministry of Energy and the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company among others in the designing of project.

Kenya Power Turns to Underground Cabling

‘The performance of the underground system has less interference and less influence by environmen-tal factors and has better aesthetics

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Kenya Power is satisfied with the progress of its power system automation project in Momba-sa aimed at facilitating efficient

monitoring and resolving disturbances in the electricity network quickly. The Mombasa automation project, which is being implemented on pilot ba-sis at a cost of Shs.300 million, entails installation of automation system units in sections of distribution lines covering the Mombasa Island and its environs in the Coast province. Speaking during site visits in Mombasa, Kenya Power Telecommunications Man-ager, Eng. Samuel Ndirangu said timely implementation of the project will ease restoration of power supply to custom-ers in case of electric faults and help the company minimize loss of electricity sales occasioned by power interruptions. “The automation system will enable Kenya Power to remotely locate and isolate faulty positions along its power

Shs.300 Million for Mombasa Power Automation Project

distribution lines with minimum disrup-tion of power supply to customers who are not directly affected by the fault,” he said. At the same time, he said, Kenya Power will benefit on reduced operational costs associated with movement of technical staff and transport in the region. The system has three main components: the master station whose function is to

monitor and control the unit to be in-stalled in the regional control centre in Rabai, Mombasa; a communication sys-tem that links up with switches in the field, and a remote control terminal and a motorized switch. Currently, Kenya Power technicians have to physically trace the fault area and manually troubleshoot anomalies occurring along electricity distribution lines. This is a time consuming process due to the length of the power lines and other impediments like traffic jams. The automation system will be inte-grated with the new System Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) currently un-der installation to facilitate a complete communication process. The SCADA system will ease communication be-tween Kenya Power control centres and various substations across the country, and is financed by the European Invest-ment Bank as part of the Energy Sector Recovery Project.

‘Currently, Kenya Power technicians have to physi-cally trace the fault area and manually trouble-shoot anomalies occur-ring along electricity dis-tribution lines

An artistic impression of a power automation plant

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Construction works at the Tatu City in Kiambu are set to begin soon following some critical

approvals to kick start the project. Na-tional Environment Management Au-thority (NEMA) is the latest to approve of the project following Ruiru Municipal Council approval earlier. The project divided into 11 phases will start off the first phase this month. The phase one will involve the construction of major facilities in the city such as residential, offices, roads and others.“Besides the residential area, phase one - sitting on 168-acres of land, will include shopping malls, hotels and of-fices. It will also include construction of roads, water, sewerage, electricity and probably piped gas,” said Arnold Meyer, Renaissance Partners’ managing direc-tor for real estate in Africa. The Sh240 billion development is located 15km north-east of Nairobi on a 2,500-acre parcel of land. Its design will allow for the housing of 62 000 citizens, with a projected 23 000 visitors every day. It’s also expected to create thousands of new jobs for Kenyans and continue cre-ating them as it grows in both size and stature.

Construction of Tatu City to Begin

The ultra-modern city is half owned by Moscow-based Renaissance Partners, the world’s leading emerging markets in-vestment bank while the other fifty per cent is shared among both local and for-eign investors including the former CBK governor Nahashon Nyaga.It will be privately managed through the Property Owners Association, to which all property owners belong, with state of the art utilities and public transport. The project is expected to be completed in 8-11 years depending on the demand.

‘The phase one will involve the construction of major facilities in the city such as residential, offices, roads and others.

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Professional indemnity Engineer magazine.pdf 2 3/26/12 2:26 PM

NEWS


The Isiolo Resort city will soon be a reality after the county coun-cil approval after which the ac-tual designs will be laid out at a

cost of Sh500 million. The government has mapped out 6,200 acres of land on which the city will be built.The building of the resort is expected to cost Sh15 billion of which Sh6.8 billion will be raised from the private sector. It will include an international airport which will be constructed in the town as a node for a railway line, pipeline and highway to be built under the Lamu-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor. Other facilities in the resort city will in-clude theatres for international festivals, accommodation facilities, water sport fa-cilities, amusement parks, art exhibition, skiing and golf courses.A 136-kilometre road from Isiolo to Mer-ille at Kenya’s border with Ethiopia has been completed while another linking Isiolo to Garissa is planned. Ethiopia has also finished constructing its road to the

Isiolo Resort City Nears Reality

Kenyan border and would build railway line as part of the Lamu-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor project.The feasibility study of the entire LAPSSET project was carried out by the Japanese Port Consultants who identified Mulango, an area that is nestled between two hills, Katim and Oldonyo Degishu, as the prime area to set up the city. Mu-lango is about 20km from Isiolo town. The land is not owned by individuals but it is a community land and the Council acts as the custodian.

Besides the Isiolo resort city, other resort cities under Vision 2030 include Kilifi, Diani, Lamu, and Turkana.The cities are aimed at boosting growth in the tourism industry. Last year, nearly two million tourists visited Kenya bringing in Sh98 billion in earnings. The resort cities will seek to attract high-end tourists who will see the government increase expendi-ture per visitor to Sh70, 000 up from the current Sh56, 000. The resort city will be in close proxim-ity to key tourist attraction sites around Isiolo like the Buffalo Springs, Samburu National Park, Shaba National Reserves, Mt Kenya National Park and Meru Na-tional Park.The promise of major infrastructure pro-jects has however pushed up land prices more than three times in the last two year. The price of land in Isiolo is Sh9 million an acre within the township and Sh1 million in the outskirts.The government is expected to start mar-keting the resort city by June next year.

‘The resort cities will seek to attract high-end tourists who will see the govern-ment increase expenditure per visitor to Sh70, 000 up from the current Sh56, 000.

NEWS


A few days after announc-ing that they were setting up an innovation centre in Nairobi, International

Business Machines (IBM) is now pitching for a government job to transform Nairobi into a smart city. The company has drawn a white pa-per titled-A Vision of a smarter City, discussing the possibility of turning Nairobi into a city whose function-alities are pegged on modern day technology.The concept sets to integrate the dif-ferent aspects of the city for example; traffic control, emergency response, water provision as well as garbage collection, all to run from one central command centre.Traffic jams which cost the country an estimated Sh50 million everyday are the lead woes for residents com-muting in and out of the city. According to a surely carried out by IBM last year, Nairobi was ranked fourth most painful cities to commute in the world. Adding to the woes is frequent water shortages, non-exist-

ent garbage disposal mechanisms, frequent power outages and lack of access roads to residential areas for emergency response.The Information and Communication PS, Bitange Ndemo acknowledges that city looses billions of shillings annually to inefficiency.”Adoption of technology is essential for the city to handle these challenges and grow”, he said. The white paper is however under negotiations with the government and no conclusions have been made yet.”From the discussions, we see a tre-mendous interest in IBM’s Smarter Cities vision”, said Tony Mwai who was appointed to head the new nerve centre for Kenya and East Africa. Tony Mwai had been working in the company’s head office in USA for the last 25 years.IBM has been operating in Africa for nearly six decades and has invested more than $US120 million in the last two years as part of its strategy to fo-cus on the world’s growth markets.

Transforming Nairobi to a Smart City

Likoni channel users have a rea-son to rejoice following Kenya Ferry Services (KFS) acquisition

of four ferry engines to be fitted in its fleet. The ferries which are a major means of transport in the area, have for long been in bad state inconven-iencing transport operations in the area. Two of the engines will be fitted in Mv Kilindini which has already seized operations and in the MV Nyayo. The Sh30 million engines were acquired from Germany.“MV Kilindini has already been with-drawn from operations and is being fitted with two of the engines”, said KFS MD,Hassan Musa Hassan.The ferries aged between 20 and 40 years have for a long time been expe-riencing breakdowns pausing threat to hundreds of daily ferry users. They are fitted with old model engines whose spare parts are hard to get.The fleet which comprises of MV Mvita, MV Nyayo, MV Harambee, MV Kilindini and MV Pwani had 2 new ferries,MV Kwale and MV Liko-ni added to it in 2011. The two new ferries were received from a German supplier, Schiffs und Yachtwerft Dres-den at a cost of Sh1.3 billion.According to the Ministry of Trans-port, the government will buy two new ferries in the next financial year to boost operations at the Likoni channel. At the same time, it will release Sh200 million to expand the ramps to 40 metres to improve the landing of ferries.Demand for ferry services in the re-gion has been growing due its strate-gic position linking Mombasa Island to the Southern mainland which is host to the finest beach hotels in the country. The number of ferry users has risen from 160,000 per day to 200,000 while that of cars has risen from 3,000 to 5,700.

Kenya Ferry Services Acquires New Engines

A panoramic view of Nairobi City

ADVERTORIAL


The construction industry will soon undergo radical changes following the coun-try’s move to change from the British standards codes that have been in use in the last five decades to new ones known as Eurocodes. The codes endorsement-done during a two-day workshop that was organized by Moi University and the

Kenya Bureau of Standards [KEBS},will see the country become the first in the entire East and Central region to adopt the new common construction norms.The Eurocodes entail 10 design standards which provide a common approach that will guide the design of buildings and other civil engineering works. These standards are a common point of reference for the industry’s practitioners, contractors and consultants in the member states. They are produced by the European Committee of Standardization with the aim of ensuring safety and stability of structures across the entire Euro Zone. Ac-cording to the facilitators, these codes are geared towards instilling sanity to the troubled construction sector.The workshop themed-” Change to Eurocodes for structural Engineering in Kenya” brought together engineers, architects, consultants, surveyors and contractors who advised that enough training on Eurocodes be conducted through refresher courses before its full adoption. Key stake holders in attendance agreed to use Eurocodes as a measure for quality and standards in the construction sector and called for Quick adoption of the Eu-rocodes in Kenya. The workshop also saw the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Moi University and KEBS to spearhead the implementation of the new standards in construction.The Engineers Registration Board of Kenya will partner in the shift to Eurocodes by ensur-ing academic partnership between universities working towards the realization of the codes as well as to ensure standards, professional ethics, health and safety concerns are addressed. The move will see to improved quality training on engineering.The new codes are expected to phase out the British Standards by June this year but the transition is likely to take five years as have been experienced in countries like South Africa and Singapore. Implementation will herald a radical regulation platform for the industry. They will also accelerate efficiency within the markets and promote stability and safety. Consultants and contractors will also be able to provide services in an integrated international market. In a sense, it will increase capacity for technical development and competitiveness in the global market.The Eurocodes will govern the Basis of structural design [EN 1990], Action loads on structures [EN 1991], Concrete design [EN 1992], Steel [EN 1993], Composite steel and concrete [EN1994], Timber [EN 1995], masonry [EN 1996], Geotechnical design [EN 1997], Structures for earthquake resistance [EN1998] and Aluminum [EN 1999]. The National Scientific Implementation Committee on Eurocodes (NISCE) will be tasked with the determination of the national annexes to govern the new standards.

KENYA SETS TO ADOPT NEW CONSTRUCTIONSTANDARDS-EUROCODES BY 2013

Kenya Bureau of StandardsPopo Road, Off Mombasa Road

P.o Box 54974-00200Tel:(+254 020) 6948000, 605573/74, 605550

Mobile: 0722202137/8, 0734600471/2E-mail:[email protected]

Website: http//www.kebs.org

NEWS


A Chinese truck maker, Foton, has opened a Sh1.6 billion assembly plant in Nairobi as

it prepares to increase its presence in the region. This move is expected to upset the balance of power in the new motor assembly industry which has been dominated by brands like CMC Motors, General Motors and Toyota Kenya. While presiding over the launch of the motor firm’s manufacturing plant in Industrial Area on Mombasa Road in Nairobi, Prime Minister Raila Od-inga said the company will enjoy a 25 per cent tax-free incentive, which is usually slapped on fully assembled imported vehicles. “Producing right here means the company will avoid paying a 25 per cent duty that is charged if it imports fully built units. That is the advan-tage Foton has just landed,” said the Prime Minister. However, the company is set to face a tough market that prefers imported second-hand vehicles, due to their lower costs compared to brand new vehicle units. “Pricing is responsible for consumers’ preference for sec-ond-hand vehicles, which currently command 70 per cent of the market share in East Africa,” noted the Prime Minister. Foton EA, will however, stay clear of the Passenger Service Vehicles mar-ket because second-hand vehicles have the upper hand.

Sh1.6 Billion Truck Assembly Plant Opened in Nairobi

General Motors South Africa (GMSA) exported its first shipment of 60 Isuzu KB pick-ups to Kenya on 3rd

of March 2012. Kenya is the latest addi-tion to the company’s existing right-hand drive export markets of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Mau-ritius.The Isuzu brand is already well es-tablished in Kenya where it last year achieved a 30% share of the new light commercial vehicle market. GMSA ex-ports manager and East Africa MD Rita Kavashe says the expansion of exports of the locally assembled Isuzu KB into key sub-Saharan Africa markets will contin-ue to build momentum over the coming months.“When production of the new genera-tion Isuzu KB commences at the compa-ny’s Struandale facility next year, this will represent the first time that the vehicle will be built [locally] in both right- and left-hand drive. “This will open up new opportunities for us to export the Isuzu KB beyond our existing markets to rap-idly growing countries, like Angola and Nigeria.”Kavashe says GMSA is working closely with Isuzu Motors Company to leverage resources to “robustly grow our footprint in key markets. Key to achieving this is strengthening our distribution network, improving logistics efficiencies, ensuring that the right product portfolio is in place

New Entry in the Kenyan Automotive Industryand providing excellent after sales sup-port to our customers.”Increased export volumes will ensure that the company reaches the incentive threshold under government’s new Au-tomotive Production and Development Plan of 50 000 units a year, which comes into effect in 2013. According to the International Monetary Fund, Africa is the fastest-growing region in the world, notes Kavashe, with its gross domestic product jumping an aver-age of 5.5% a year between 2000 and 2012, compared to a global average of 4.4%.“We are implementing aggressive meas-ures to ensure that we are able to grow our vehicle sales volumes as the econo-mies in these countries grow. “With all the development happening in sub-Sa-haran Africa as countries improve road infrastructure, agriculture and invest in construction of new buildings, there is opportunity to sell our tough commercial vehicles in these markets,” she says.The Isuzu KB has a production history in Port Elizabeth that spans 40 years. GMSA is investing R1-billion in its three new ve-hicle assembly programmes, which in-clude the Chevrolet Utility that came on stream at the end of last year, the new Spark, which will roll off the company’s production lines later this month and the sixth-generation Isuzu KB, which is set to be launched in sub-Saharan Africa dur-ing the first half of 2013.

NEWS


The 4th African Ministerial Con-ference on Housing and Urban Development (AMCHUD) was this year hosted by The Minis-

try of Housing here in Nairobi. Kenya represented East Africa in the confer-ence which happened from 20-23 March 2012.The three day conference co-sponsored by the African Union, and UN-HABITAT attracted delegates from all over the continent among who are experts in housing and urbanization.The conference theme was “Territorial planning and access to basic services for all”. The issues discussed were challeng-es of urbanization and ways to main-stream the resolutions in the country’s housing policies which are key in ad-

dressing the settlement challenges. The theme underscored the central roles of urban planning and access to basic ser-vices, while taking on the growing impli-cations of climate change. “Implications of climate change and ac-cess to basic rights is one of the points to be discussed in the conference”, said the

Housing Minister Soita Shitanda.AMCHUD was established in 2005, as the main consultative mechanism on the promotion of sustainable development of human settlements in Africa. It is the primary intergovernmental vehicle for governments to improve African cities, enabling them to realize their full po-tential as centers of hope and prosperity for their people. The conference is held every two years providing a platform for members to share ideas and discuss ef-fective strategies to achieve sustainable urbanization in Africa.The previous AMCHUD conference had been held in Mali where they discussed the best practices in land management and sustainable urbanization.

Nairobi Hosts the 4th African Ministerial Conference

‘The conference is held every two years providing a plat-form for members to share ideas and discuss effective strategies to achieve sustain-able urbanization in Africa.

NEWS


The need to deepen project man-agement skills in Africa has seen two leading solution providers,

Linksoft Group and Astrowix come to-gether to form a joint partnership. Link-soft Group, a leading local business solutions provider and the global pro-ject management solutions provider, As-trowix came together to form a consult-ing firm, One Africa Limited.“The joint venture firm will provide end to end project management services geared at assisting organisations achieve superior’s business results”, said One Af-rica CEO,Upendra Giri.Linksoft Group CEO, Mr Anthony Wa-home pointed that more than Ksh 100 million is lost due to lack of project man-agement skills and related technologies both in the private and public sectors and that One Africa would provide port-folio, program and project management education, consultancy and technology support for key clients.

Growing the African Management SkillsGlobally, project management services have grown to grab a position as one of the key management efficiency tools that provide cost and resource savings while enhancing the quality of project executions. Their clientele ranges from mobile phone companies, development organi-sations, natural resource exploration companies as well as political projects management.The firm set to be established in Nairobi not only brings the richness of more than a decade of expertise to the African market from its interaction with some of Fortune 500 companies globally, but will also provide key services in the pro-ject management space. “Globally, the role and scope of project management continues to grow and we are proud to be unveiling One Africa as a dedicated firm to provide skills and solutions in project management,” Wa-home pointed out.

A multi-million wind power pro-ject is set to start construction in June this year after seven

years of study and funding talks. The $775 million wind farm project to be erected near Lake Turkana will become one of Africa’s biggest wind farm consisting of 365 wind turbines.The wind farm expected to start pro-duction of the first 50MW in mid-2014 will be financed by the govern-ment and a loan from the Spanish government. It is expected to reach full capacity of about 310MW by the year 2015 where it will meet 20% of the country’s energy demand. The first step will however be to im-prove on or build a 204km road to be used for transporting materials for the project. It is estimated that the trucks to be used will require 12,000 trips to transport of the equipment and mate-rials. A 48km transmission line will be built to link the wind farm to the na-tional grid.Isolux Corsan, of Spain will build the transmission line at an extra cost of $188.3 million.The electricity produced by the wind turbines will be sold to Kenya Power for approximate-ly $9.90 making it the most affordable energy in Kenya.Kenyans pay more for electricity than residents of any other African country except Rwanda in spite the common power cuts and power losses. The project will work in tandem with Kenya’s geothermal energy projects and help the country break away from foreign sources of fuel and fossil-fuels.A wind turbine manufacturer, Vestas will supply the 365 Vestas V52 tur-bines each with a capacity of 850 watts. The winds in this region blow predictably and regularly averaging speeds of 11 metres per second.

Kenya to Become Home of Africa’s Biggest Wind Farm

NEWS


Construction works for the Nzoia dam are set to begin after

a long time of controversy rising from the evictions so as to pave way for the con-struction of the dam along the river Nzoia. The project is to begin in six months if all matters of controversy are resolved within this pe-riod of time. The leaders in affected areas however are said to have come to an agreement with the Nation-al Water and Pipeline Cor-poration (NWPC) and have endorsed the project.The dam to be funded by the Government of Kenya is estimated to cost Sh10 billion but the exact cost of the dam will be fully es-tablished after the design is complete. The initial plan was to build a major dam of capacity of 985 million cubic litres in Tongaren di-

Construction of Nzoia Dam to Begin

Food security has for all times been a major con-cern in most countries.

The food situation in this country has been greatly af-fected by the climate change as a result of environmental degradation leading to de-creased river flows, lakes. In the effort to ensure food security, the government has committed to construction of dams as well as improv-ing irrigation schemes in the country.The government has howev-er been investing lot in wa-ter projects especially now that the country is undergo-ing other infrastructural im-provements.Some of these projects in-clude; a sh249 million water project set to benefit schools at Awendo town, Sh50 mil-

lion given to Kisumu Water company among other ongo-ing projects.In a speech presented by assistant Water Minister on behalf of Charity Ngilu to mark Worlds Water day, she pointed the need to in-crease water resources so as to meet the current demand. She noted that two dams, Kiserian and Maruba are al-ready finished while those in Badassa, Umaa and Chemu-susu are in the final stages. The dams will hold a capac-ity of up to 21 cubic litres.Expansion plans for the Mwea Irrigation scheme in Kirinyaga is set to begin and will cost Sh10 billion. Oth-ers schemes to be improved include; Bura, Hola, Pekerra, Bunyala and West Kano irri-gation schemes.

Investing in Water to Curb Food Insecurity

vision but this could change depending on the site identi-fied. According to the leaders in the region, 60,000 people would be displaced by the major dam. They then advo-cate that the dam be built in phases of mini-dams along the river Nzoia in different constituencies which will re-duce the number of people relocated at once.The project whose main aim is flood control will ben-efit the 1.2milion people af-fected by perennial floods in Budalang’i.A power station will also be built in the area and is expected to add 20 megawatts of electricity to the national grid. It will also be used for irrigation, water supply, inland fishing and serve as a recreational site. The dam is expected to bring economic prosperity to the people in the western Kenya region.

Irrigation at Dominion Farms, Yala Swamp

NEWS


On 16th March, President Kibaki launched the con-struction of the Greater Southern Bypass which

runs from Salama and ends at Suswa.The event held at Lang’ata was attended by government officials including the Min-ister of Roads, Franklin Bett. The 30KM road will be constructed by the China Road and Bridge Construction Company and is expected to be com-pleted in three years time. The project will cost about Sh17.2 billion of which 85 per cent is from the Republic of China

Works Begin on the Southern Bypass

while the other 15 per cent is by the Kenya Government.In a statement released by the Ministry of Roads, the Southern Bypass will help enhance regional integration as well as economic growth of the country. The bypass will reduce the time spent on transporting goods and services along the Northern Corridor thus making Kenya one of the most competitive re-gions. It will also enhance connectivity at reduced cost.The standard dual carriage bypass will divert heavy trucks travelling to neigh-

boring countries from the Uhuru High-way and the busy Waiyaki way. It will link heavy traffic flowing on the Mombasa Road near the Ole Sereni Ho-tel running along the Nairobi National Park fence across Lang’ata Road into Kikuyu town to join the Nairobi-Nakuru highway at Rironi near Limuru. This will also open up the southern part of the City.Some other by passes are the Greater Northern bypass which links Limuru road to Thika Road and The Greater Eastern bypass which links Mombasa road to Ruiru-Kiambu road near Kamiti prison. Other bypasses include the Kisumu by-pass –launched early this year, while those of Mombasa, Nakuru and Eldoret are in design stages. The bypasses are aimed at easing traffic congestion prob-lems experienced in the major urban cities.

A section of the southern bypass

NEWS


The Webuye based industry was reopened by the president Mwai Kibaki in August 2010. It has since continued to face

a myriad of problems ranging from, in-sufficient funding, tighter environmental regulations, court cases, management squabbles and frequent staff turnover as well as high energy prices. At the time of reopening, the company owed Kenya power and Lighting upto Ksh100 million in unpaid bills.In spite of the government efforts to re-suscitate the dilapidated factory through treasury allocations, the company still faces an eminent closure due to unpaid power bills. The government has so far spent Ksh 1.6 billion to revive the fac-tory. The company is embroiled in a le-gal tussle with the receivers appointed by short term lenders; Ecobank, Bank of Baroda and Barclay moving to assert authority. This is against the backdrop of revival team led by the industrialization permanent secretary Karanja Kibicho. The mill’s demand for wood has turned the area barren and the company trucks now had to travel for many miles to get the all-important raw material, trees. A major cause of concern of the district is the effluents from the major industries namely Pan Paper Mills at Webuye and E.A. Heavy Chemicals which have de-graded the environment of the surround-ing areas, due to improper management of industrial waste. These effluents are usually discharged into Nzoia River and the surrounding atmosphere, hence pol-luting water and air, killing fish in Nzoia and Lwakhakha Rivers. People from as far as Kakamega town attest that they could smell the foul orduor emitted to the air by the mills especially early in the morning and late in the evening.Paper usage continues to generate a glob-al debate on how sustainable we can ex-ploit the world natural resources. Major problems related to paper usage ranges from pollution of the environment, de-forestation, greenhouse gas emissions among others. The paper industry is con-

sidered as the fourth largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions which has been a major crisis for the whole world. Paper is made from pulp which is got-ten from wood in forest. Trees hold 50per cent of the world’s terrestrial carbon and so cutting down of these trees for the mills leads to deforestation further pro-moting carbon emmisions.Some areas in Kenya such as Webuye used to be heavily forested as it formed part of the Kagamena Indigenous Forest. But fol-lowing the setting up of a pulp mill in the area, the area has now turned barren. Chemicals produced during pulping can also envelope in a foul smelling air. Acid fumes and fly ash result in the corrosion of the corrugated iron roofs of the houses in the vicinity of the mill. The mill’s solid waste when dumped on fields as manure can lead to decline in local agricultural production.Littering of papers also is a major prob-lem especially in the cities. According to records, 25per cent of landfill waste is from paper. This has resulted to further destruction of the green vegetation. In as much as these companies would want to expand and grow more in business, use of trees in paper making is resulting to be a risk to the planet and its habitats. The companies are thus forced to turn

to alternatives other than trees. Luckily, for them some alternatives have already been discovered like the bagasse.Bagasse is a waste product from sugar-cane. The National Environment Man-agement Authority (NEMA), Kenya’s main environmental body has licensed papermaking from bagasse, a move that experts have welcomed. This is expected to reduce illegal logging, reverse de-forestation and help slow the effects of climate change. The use of bagasse will further reduce pollution to the environ-ment by bagasse which will now be used rather than be dumped. Considering that we are living in a digi-tal world, computers are further reduc-ing the need for papers. Digital storage medias are used to save information that would rather have been written on bulk paper. A lot can be saved in a sin-gle computer replacing a whole room of paper files.

Pan Africa Paper Mills Suffers a Blow

‘In spite of the government efforts to resuscitate the di-lapidated factory through treasury allocations, the company still faces an emi-nent closure due to unpaid power bills

NEWS


R ift Valley Railways (RVR) un-veiled a Sh24.4 billion plan to refurbish the company’s infra-structure. The five year capital

expenditure programme for the project will involve replacing 70km of the di-lapidated tracks between Mombasa and Nairobi in May as it seeks to revamp operations and improve efficiency and cycle time. It will also rebuild nine cul-verts along the Tororo-Jinja section and purchase modern equipment to improve railway line maintenance from April this year.“Top of our priority refurbishing different sections of our permanent way along the Nairobi-Mombasa section and the re-placement of the nine culverts between Tororo and Jinja,” said Brown Ondego, RVR Group chief executive in a press briefing in Nairobi.RVR won a 25-year concession to run the railway in 2006 but has been hampered with shareholding and management wrangles for quite some time. This move is part of its efforts to increase tonnages moved by rail with an aim of preserving road infrastructure in the region while im-proving the competitiveness and service in the transport and logistics industry.The rehabilitation of the railway line is vital following the opening up of East Af-rica via the LAPSSET transport corridor. According to analysts, the rehabilitation of the rail network is critical to expand-ing trade across the east African region.Mr Ondego said that besides the Kenya-Uganda railway line, the company was eyeing new opportunities in Rwanda, South Sudan, and eastern Congo. “We are focusing on improving what we have under our concession, but beyond that we are eyeing opportunities in the re-gion,” he said.

The project is to be funded by a con-sortium of both local and international lenders. The loan agreement was signed as follows: International Finance Corpo-ration ($22-million), the African Devel-

opment Bank ($40-million), the German Development Agency ($32-million), the Dutch Development Bank ($20-million), the ICF Debt Pool ($20-million), the Bel-gian Investment Company for Developing Countries ($10-million), and Equity Bank ($20-million).Other expenditure programmes of the project will include investment in infor-mation technology, a complete overhaul of 13 locomotives, increase in fleet ca-pacity, improvement in the reliability of 26 locomotives on existing fleet and re-furbishment and improvement in the ca-pacity of 480 wagons including loading and offloading.

Sh24.4bn for RVR’s Infrastructural Refurbish

‘The rehabilitation of the railway line is vital following the opening up of East Africa via the LAPSSET transport corridor.

NEWS


K enya Airways has priced its $250-million cash call at 14 shillings per share, a 32% dis-count to the shares’ average

price over the last three months. The airline, which is 26% held by AirFrance KLM, wants to buy new planes with funds raised from the rights issue, in line with its plans to double its fleet in the next five years and a longer-term 10-year expansion drive. Chief executive Titus Naikuni said the airline, one of Africa’s leading carriers, wanted to add 73 wide and narrow-bodied planes to its current fleet of 34, as well as introduce 60 new routes over 10 years.“The plan is to expand in Africa and the Far East,” he told a news conference, referring to the airline’s strategy of con-necting African travelers with the outside world through its Nairobi hub. The main risks include the expansion of Jomo Ken-yatta International Airport to allow for the handling of millions of new passen-gers, the timely delivery of new planes by manufacturers, a lack of experienced pilots and the huge capital outlay re-

KQ to Raise $ 250m for Expansion

quired, the airline said. The issue was announced last year and will lead to the creation of 1.48-billion shares to be offered at a rate of 16 for every five held. It has already been 50% subscribed after both AirFrance KLM and the Kenyan government, which has a 23% stake, committed to take up their rights.The minimum subscription required for the issue to go ahead is 70% and some analysts said the airline would struggle to persuade retail shareholders to take up their rights due to high interest rates

in Kenya. “It’s a good thing that they have already captured about 50%, but by no means, it is not a simple task. High inter-est rates imply low liquidity in the mar-ket,” said John Kamunya, head of trading at Dyer & Blair.The central bank raised rates sharply in the last quarter of 2011 to fight inflation and curb exchange rate volatility. Shares of Kenya Airways edged down by 5c to 18.55 shillings after the pricing of the rights issue was announced. “The offer price sounds like a good dis-count. It might excite people but ulti-mately, that will affect the share price in the long term due to dilution,” Kamunya said. The issue is being led by CFC Stanbic as transaction adviser and Standard Invest-ment Bank as the lead sponsoring bro-ker.Kenya Airways issued a profit warn-ing on January 27, saying earnings for the year ending March 2012 would be at least 25% less than the previous year. It blamed the euro zone debt crisis, po-litical unrest in Egypt and escalating fuel prices

‘It has already been 50% sub-scribed after both AirFrance KLM and the Kenyan gov-ernment, which has a 23% stake, committed to take up their rights.

A KQ plane takes off at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport

NEWS


R isks of congestion continue to threaten Jomo Kenyatta In-ternational Airport after it an-nounced that five international

carriers are expected to start using the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) from April. JKIA though is Kenya’s largest aviation facility raises concerns of congestion which it is already experi-encing especially at some specific times of the day, still allows for more carriers to use the facility.Adding to the already 28 airlines operating from the airport will be; Etihad, Air Dubai, Royal Air Maroc and Air Malawi. A 140-aircraft Skyteam of Korea Airlines already started flying chartered flights to Nairobi, delivering the first batch of 120 tourists mid Janu-ary this year.This comes in a time when Kenya Air-ways also announced plans to increase its current fleet by double. Kenya Air-ports Authority however says that they are doing what’s necessary to ensure the operations go on well. They are looking forward to the building of a new terminal-green field terminal.

An aircraft parking plan has been intro-duced to help maximize space avail-able as well as constructing additional remote aircraft parking bays. However, this does not solve the whole problem since the hangers where the aircrafts are repaired are still not enough.The expansion works in JKIA initially were to be done in three phases to avoid disrupting the airport’s operations. The works involved increasing park-ing stands to accommodate 43 aircraft from the current 23, construction of a new terminal 4,expansion of terminal 3,upgrading of terminal 1 and 2 and new Taxiways to enhance more parking space.The expansion was expected to take three years. However, phase one which was scheduled for completion in June 2007 was completed in mid 2008 thus resulting into the subsequent delay of other phases of construction.JKIA is the busiest airport in East Africa and the 6th busiest airport in Africa. It is attracting a lot of airlines as a result of its location in the fast growing economic region.

JKIA Attracts More Global

Airlines Raising Congestion Fears

Upgrade works for the second upgrade phase of the Kisumu Airport have begun. The air-

port, which on completion will be-come the third largest airport in the country will be undertaken by China Overseas Engineering Group Compa-ny and is expected to take 15 months.The phase one upgrade saw the air-port officially opened by the President in February this year. The Sh3.3 billion upgrade took three years to complete. It involved setting up new facilities like access roads, a modern apron and a car parking lot.The works on phase II, said to cost Sh1.9 billion will involve construction of a parallel taxiway, a cargo apron and other associated facilities. The project will see to the strengthening of the runaway as well as ground light-ing. The new airfield lighting will in-clude directional signs, runaway lights and approach lights will be mounted at the facility. The new apron will ac-commodate bigger aircrafts and a new car park that will hold about 130 cars.Currently, the airport lacks cargo tran-sit sheds which are planned to be in-cluded in the phase II.The upgrade will see the international airport accommodate bigger aircrafts and over 300,000 passengers per year. It is said to have the potential to open up the EAC markets as well as easing road traffic in the region. New routes linking Nairobi, Entebe, Kigali, Arusha, Mwanza and Juba are also viewed as possible through the airport.The President launched the upgrade project in July 2009 during a groundbreaking ceremony which he officiated. The airport is the fourth in-ternational airport in the country.

Phase-II Upgrade Works for Kisumu Airport Begin

An aerial view of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Kisumu International Airport

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The University of Nairobi (UoN) will house the new research centre aimed at promoting de-velopment of relevant and user-

friendly softwares .The Centre of Excel-lence in Computing for Development as it will be referred to will focus on key areas including mobile money transfer, e-governance and ICT for development.The center to be based at the Universi-ty’s School of Computing and Informat-ics follows concerns by researchers and industry players on the slow uptake of mobile money applications despite the country achieving a 70 per cent mo-bile penetration rate. The concerns were raised during the inaugural Africa Mo-

bile Money Researchers conference held at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies in Nairobi.The lack of synergy between the industry and the developers has been blamed as the cause of failure for most applications to make an impact in the market. The center will however enjoy a multi-dis-ciplinary human resource capacity that will enable researchers come up with comprehensive market insights from conceptualization to commercialization of applications.“Lack of understanding of consumer needs has seen many applications brought to the market with producers not thinking through the whole product

A New Research Centre for ICT to be Set Up ‘The lack of synergy be-

tween the industry and the developers has been blamed as the cause of failure for most applica-tions to make an impact in the market

cycle”, noted Prof Timothy Waema an associate professor in UoN.Funding of the centre is expected to come from the yet-to-be-established government research kitty. The govern-ment is expected to commit one per cent of the national GDP to research and de-velopment.Prof Waema added that they would also seek complementary funding from the private sector.

Mobile application exhibitors showcasing some of their products

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Yahoo kicked off the biggest pat-ent battle in social networking history by suing Facebook over 10 patents. Facebook however

pledged to defend itself forcefully amid speculation Yahoo is trying new ways to raise funds as its ship is sinking.The Yahoo Inc. lawsuit filed March 14th 2012 covers advertising, privacy controls and social networking. The move comes after the former web giant threatened to sue Facebook in Feb-ruary saying it would seek licensing fees from the social network over the use of its patents. Yahoo also said other compa-nies have already agreed to such licens-ing deals.It is reported that only two of the 10 patents at issue are directly related to social networking technology. For ex-ample, one patent cited by Yahoo cov-ers a method for people to communicate through a virtual entity, “enabling users to easily share their experiences,” ac-cording to patent filings. The rest concern online advertising, including methods for preventing “click fraud,” as well as privacy and technology for customizing the information users see

on a Web page.Yahoo claims that its patented technolo-gies attract more than 700 million unique visitors each month. One of the Web’s pioneering companies, defended its lawsuit by saying it has in-vested “substantial resources in research and development” over the years that have led to technology patents that other companies have licensed.Facebook shot back by saying the relationship had been mutually beneficial. “We’re disappointed that Yahoo, a long-time business partner of Facebook and a company that has substantially benefited from its association with Facebook, has decided to resort to litigation.” The giant social network Facebook has promised to defend itself vigorously.However, Silicon Valley law professor Colleen Chien says the circumstances of the case might force Facebook to be “more willing to resolve its differences with Yahoo,” Reuters cites her as saying.The lawsuit comes as an extremely vul-nerable Facebook prepares to go public. Potentially valued at $100 billion, its IPO could be one of the largest in history. Yahoo has seen its revenues decline in

recent years as the rise of Facebook has eaten away at its position. With the up-coming Facebook IPO and Yahoo’s fail-ing fortunes, some believe the timing of the lawsuit is not a coincidence.Yahoo’s newly appointed chief execu-tive Mr. Thompson announced publicly the company needs to explore ways to generate revenue from new and underu-tilized parts of its business.“It’s common for older companies whose businesses aren’t doing as well as they’d like to file suits like this” against newcomers that plan to go public, said Michael Barclay, a volunteer lawyer at the Electronic Fron-tier Foundation, as quoted by the Wall Street Journal.Yahoo has already proved the strategy can be a success. In 2004 it made hun-dreds of millions of dollars from a patent settlement that it reached with Google just nine days before Google went pub-lic. The company agreed to issue shares to Yahoo in exchange for licensing rights to Yahoo’s patents. Founded in March 1996, Yahoo has filed more than 1,000 patents covering various aspects of its operation.

Yahoo Sues Facebook Over Patent

Mark Zuckerberg CEO Facebook

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Samsung Electronics signed a deal with satellite operator SES to provide free-to-air TV channels through their new high-end Sam-

sung LED TV sets with in-built satellite decoders. The yet to be revealed TV set will provide access to 30 free English TV channels and 30 free French channels. The deal with SES was announced dur-ing an annual Africa Forum event held in Cape Town last week.SES which already covers 40 Afri-can counties will offer free satellite TV through two satellites-Astra 2A for French speaking countries and Astra 4B for English speaking countries. The view-ers will have to aim their dish antennas to either of the two satellites depending on the region they are. The two compa-nies will however jointly arrange training sessions with distribution partners and installers to train on proper connection of TV device and the satellite dish by June this year.This comes at a time when Kenya plans to switch from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting by the set deadline of June this year. The move is however a torrid affair with furious debates over standards

Multichoice Monopoly Threatenand fights over frequency allocation. This move by Samsung could make it the big-gest provider of satellite TV services in Africa giving South Africa’s Multi-Choice a run for its money.The company seeks to develop more locally relevant products at cheaper prices even as it aims at boosting its revenue from Africa to $10 billion by the year 2015.Early this year, Samsung opened a training centre in Nairobi to aim of addressing the critical technical and engineering skills shortage in Africa. The Korean firm is aggressively courting African consumers with its “Built for Af-rica” line of products, which features en-ergy saving electrical appliances built to withstand high temperatures and erratic power supply.Kenya will be the first consumer of the new product in East African countries together with Nigeria, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Ghana from Au-gust this year. The free satellite TVs will come with Samsung’s LED TV Surge Safe plus technology suited for African envi-ronment. The price of the Tv was how-ever not revealed but officials pointed that it would be competitive.

Apple launched its third iter-ation of its best-selling tab-let the new iPad during an

Apple event held at San Francisco early this year. The iPad is however without a new name, it’s simply “iPad”. The device will be the first of Ap-ple’s products to support 4G.It has a new “A5X” processor with four cores, capable of speeds twice that of the iPad 2. It is 7% thicker and 5% heavier than the iPad 2.The new iPad also has an improved camera that can record high-definition vid-eo and a microphone button on the keyboard for voice dictation. It has a high resolution screen that pro-vides sharp detail and colour ac-curacy. The tablet comes also with some new apps. Apple controls 59% of the tablet market and has sold 55 million iP-ads in the first two years of sales. It expects to match that number in 2012 alone. They also unveiled a new version of its Apple TV set-top box during the event. The iPad expected to reach Kenyan stores by mid-this year is going for costs between $500 and $830 depending on the storage ca-pacity

Apple’s New iPad is Out

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Kenya is set to import millions of digital broadcasting (DVB)

gadgets as the country seeks to migrate from analogue broadcasting before the set deadline this year. The switch to digital broadcasting was al-located Ksh 3 billion but has faced a lot of constrain that has delayed the implementa-tion of the project.Communications Commis-sion of Kenya had earlier an-nounced that digital transmis-sion was already available in Nairobi and its environs. However, households with analogue TVs can only pick the signal with the help of DVB-T2 set top boxes. It’s tar-geted that by the end of this year, every household with a TV set must have DVB-T2 set top boxes to be able to view local TV programming.The DVB-T2 set top boxes are gadgets that are fixed on analogue television sets to

Kenya Getting Ready to Go Digital

enable them receive digital transmissions. Last year, Ken-ya won approval from its East African Community (EAC) partners to remove taxes on set-top digital TV converter boxes to make set-top boxes affordable.Kenya was the second in Afri-ca to make the switch to digi-tal broadcasting after South Africa. The switch which is a global initiative is set at a timeline of up to the year 2015.A Chinese company, Pan Af-rica Media was awarded the contract to distribute media content in Kenya.

S tudents in learning in-stitutions are to benefit from the new teaching

methods following the initia-tive by the Ministry of Educa-tion to connect learning in-stitutions to the Fibre optic cable. The Minister of Edu-cation, Mutula Kilonzo said this during a meeting with the House Committee on Educa-tion.

“We can’t afford to be left out of changing technology”, said Mutula.All model primary and sec-ondary schools built two years ago through the Eco-nomic Stimulus Package (EPS) will be connected to the fibre network cable. The minister pointed that the role of ICT in delivery of edu-cation at primary, secondary and university levels would be emphasized through amendments to the Education Act.Headded that the country had been operating without a law on how universities oper-ate and that there was need to synchronize this to ensure a sound legal infrastructure for education at all levels.

Fibre Optic Cables to Link Schools

Nation Media Group chairman Wilfred Kiboro told share-

holders at an investors meet-ing at the Serena Hotel on 14th March 2012 that the Group posted a 30.9 growth in profits before tax last year helped by good advertising revenue.Revenues from radio, televi-sion, digital and newspaper divisions rose by 17.1 per cent to Sh11.2 billion, lift-ing profits to Sh8.2 billion compared to Sh2.1 billion in 2010.The board has pro-posed an increase in the or-dinary dividend from Sh5.50 per share to Sh8 per share.Mr Kiboro said the group would spend more on re-gional expansion to boost growth of the business, “Our strategy of investing in the region is paying off”, hes

Nation Media Group Posts Record Profits

said.NMG Chief Executive, Linus Gitahi pointed that the media Group was also set to tap remittances from the multi-billion-shilling Diasporas remittances mar-ket. The company was pre-paring to unveil a money transfer service called Na-tionHela to be rolled out in partnership with Diamond Trust Bank. The newspaper division which recorded a 19 per cent increase in circulation and earnings raises NMG’s a 10 per cent increase in advertising The Business Daily, the group’s youngest publication, recorded a 14 per cent increase in circula-tion and 17 per cent growth in advertising revenue re-spectively helped it post a 69 per cent rise in operat-ing profit.

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World Bank has approved an addi-tional Ksh4.6 billion funding for the Kenya Transparency and Communica-tions Infrastructure Project. This is the second round of funding the bank has provided after the initial Ksh9.5 billion approved at the start of the project in 2007.The additional finance will help the country consolidate the initiatives it has made in the ICT sector such as the open data initiative. It is also ex-pected to accelerate the use of ICT in improving governance and transpar-ency based on innovations such as the government open data portal launched July last year.“Information technology has contrib-uted to Kenya’s growth rate since 2000 and opened a path for achieving re-markable improvements in transpar-ency and governance”, said World Bank’s country director, Mr. Johannes Zutt.The project is part of communications infrastructure programmes financed by the bank to improve connectivity be-tween countries in the region and ac-celerate penetration of technology in the local market.

Ksh4.6 Billion to Boost ICT in Kenya

The Government plans to introduce the 4G network into the country through a joint consortium with

internet providers in the country. The 4G will replace the 3G which has been in use in the country for some time now. Safaricom, which is one of the few firms who have expressed interest in the joint venture however differs with the govern-ment on the network frequencies and threatens to pull out of the venture.The government insists on the use of 2.6 GHz frequency as opposed to 700MHz which Safaricom says requires less Base Transmitter Stations (BTS). The 700MHz frequencies are commonly used for the provision of Long Term Evolution (LTE) in rural regions, but are less effective in built-up urban areas .The 4G technology has a larger capacity to deliver data and facilitate high-end services such as video conferencing and gaming.According to Mr.Nkioka Waita, Safa-ricom’s corporate affairs director, the

Government to Roll Out 4G Network

2.6GHz spectrum covers a radius of just 400 meters, whereas 700MHz spectrum is capable of covering a distance of be-tween 19.2km and 28.8km, necessitating fewer BTS.The 4G ownership structure is modeled on a Private Public Partnership (PPP), where the government and the operators –including foreign firms – will own stakes in the network equivalent to the capital they inject in the special purpose entity.Other participants officially confirmed for inclusion in the partnership as per October last year were; Airtel Kenya, Essar Telecom Kenya (yu) , Orange Ken-ya, Kenya Data Networks (KDN) ,MTN Business Kenya, global vendors Alcatel-Lucent (France), Epesi Technologies (US) and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN, Fin-land).The venture will see the operators inject Sh10 billion to start construction of the advanced network with the government providing frequencies for a stake.

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The discovery of oil at Ngamia in Northern Kenya near Lake Tur-kana and about 700 kilometres south of Juba has prompted the

South Sudan government to construct a new airport terminal building at Juba.The discovery of Ngamia 1 oil will un-leash a hive of exploration activity not only by Tullow Oil but also by a myriad of exploration companies eager to get a slice of the preverbal cake.A new airport terminal at Juba will at-tract a very rapid development of the airport and will require very careful con-sideration by planners and particularly in regard to the setting of the airport and its detailed planning. The new airport terminal building will probably be sited to the west of the

Juba Plans New Airport Terminal Building

existing Juba Township and perhaps six to ten kilometres from the centre of the town to leave room for development of a complex of government offices, foreign embassies and a city commercial centre.The new airport will probably require two main runways in the space of a few years and several hectares of land for terminal buildings. The township of Juba will quickly grow to become a city of several million inhabitants.

For example, the capital of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, has grown in the space of a few years to become a city with a popu-lation of about 5 million.Deputy Trans-port Minister, Mayom Knoc Malek told Reuters recently that the development of a city terminal was now one of South Su-dan’s priorities. At the present time some 22 airlines serve Juba International Air-port mostly from Africa including airlines from Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan.Speaking on the sidelines of an interna-tional donors conference Malek said he felt South Sudan merited the construc-tion of a showcase international terminal and he hoped to secure the funds for its development from international donors, international lending agencies and from private donors.

‘At the present time some 22 airlines serve Juba In-ternational Airport mostly from Africa

The existing Juba Airport

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Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has indicated growth follow-ing South Sudan’s decision to make the Mombasa Port its

main gateway for its imports.KPA which operates the Mombasa Port said that they indicated high growth rate in transit cargo for the last 1 year following this.According to the MD KPA Mr.Gichiri Ndua, the port last year had handled 417,033 tonnes of transit goods for South Sudan up from 223,467 tonnes in the year 2010.The port had earlier this year faced crit-ics following congestion as a result of failure to balance the cargo container arrivals and offtake at the port. The Port enrolled into a 100 deconges-tion process and has since improved. In terms of container traffic growth, the port handled 771,000 20-foot equiva-

South Sudan Boosts Mombasa Port’s Cargo Transit Rate

lent units of containers last year up from 695,000 in 2010 registering 10.8 per cent which is over international growth rate of eight per cent.Ndua said that the turn around of the vessels had improved to 2.9 days com-pared to performance contract target of

three days. He said the average ship waiting had improved to 2.12 days compared to 2.36 days last year.Ndua assured port users that the clearance of the contain-ers which had been lying at the port had improved.Following the construction of berth 19 at container terminal, Ndua expressed op-timism for more growth of cargo passing through the port in the future. “Despite slow economic growth in other parts of the world, KPA had recorded 10 per cent container growth through Mombasa Port.”, He said.Other countries such Tanzania, Demo-cratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Rwanda and Burundi have as well regis-tered an increase in cargo.Uganda how-ever continues to lead in cargo for land-locked countries using the port.

‘The port last year handled 417,033 tonnes of transit goods for South Sudan up from 223,467 tonnes in the year 2010

A cargo ship approaching a harbour

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NEWSPICTORIAL

S.No Category Winner Runners - Up

1 Overall energy award Kenafric Industries Ltd Mt. Kenya Bottlers`

2 Best Energy Management Team Award Mt. Kenya Bottlers Kenafric Industries

3 Fuel saving energy award (Large) Gitugi Tea Factory Mununga Tea Factory

Fuel saving energy award (SME) Sarova Shaba None

4 Electrical saving energy award(Large) BAT Kenafric Industries Ltd

Electrical saving energy award (SME) Sarova Taita Hills None

5 Service Sector Award Sarova Whitesands Sarova Lion Hill

6 Energy Innovation award None

7 Sustained high performance award Sarova White Sands Kenafric Industries Ltd

8 Best new entrant-Large Mununga Tea Factory Tegat Tea Factory

Best new entrant (SME) Sarova Lion Hill Sarova Mara

LIST OF WINNERS

SPONSORS

1. Kenya Power 2. Kengen 3. Nation Media Group 4. REA 5. Tsavo Power 6. General Electric 7. Metlex

8. ERC 9. Ministry of Energy 10. KAM

2012 ENERGY MANAGEMENT AWARDS

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PICTORIAL

COVER STORY


Ngamia 1; the site where oil was discovered


Now, it is Kenya’s Turn to Oil the World

The long search seems to be finally over. The entire country is expectant, a show that their thirst for independent oil source will soon be quenched.

This is a new Kenya. Energy ex-perts say the discovery of oil deposits Ngamia-1 well, Turka-na County, has the potential of

turning around Kenya’s economy, whose growth has stagnated for the last three years following the political instability in 2008. Today, inflation stands at around 15.6 per cent while average lending rates run around 30 per cent. Tullow Oil, the British firm that beat Chi-na in the race to strike oil, dug more than 3,000 feet deep into the ground of the country’s northern Turkana region, hit-ting critical light crude samples that sug-gest Kenya’s oil is of a similar geological provenance as that of its neighbor Ugan-da. The Museveni regime found large de-posits, also identified first by Tullow five years ago and is expected to begin refin-ing and exports “soon”.

Tracing the Search for OilKenya’s long journey started more than a decade ago. The exploration ran across the hostile north stretching from the un-stable Somali border in the east to the vast lands around Lake Turkana, formerly Lake Rudolf, in the west, where some of the oldest bones of early man were found. Competition has been at break neck as British, Chinese, Italian and French firms race to strike the crude first. Tullow Oil was the most recent operator to join the search. Its well struck oil in a region to Lake Turkana’s west, close to the border with Ethiopia, and some 200 miles from where China has spent more than five years drilling exploratory shafts. Indeed, the oil search in the country has been incessant for over 20 years now.In September last year, French oil mul-tinational Total said it had acquired five

COVER STORY

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offshore oil exploration blocks in the Lamu basin, joining a list of other giant firms that are eyeing openings in Kenya’s oil exploration. According to sources, Total’s strategy is to strengthen its oil exploration and production presence in East African region. It has already started exploration and development of reserves in Uganda’s Lake Albert region. It is also active in Tanzania. This, they say, has been catalyzed by the recent discoveries around offshore Mozambique and Tan-zania, offering a promising outlook for the Kenyan permits.

What Next for Kenya?Although Kenya is yet to give a formal indication of where its exploration pro-gramme is headed, the Ministry of En-ergy officials, who, too, are optimistic on other oil discoveries in the country. “This time, there is great hope that we shall discover more oil wells,” Energy Permanent Secretary Patrick Nyoike said. Optimism surrounding the Kenyan pro-gramme is informed by recent oil discov-eries in Uganda that, combined with the fact that the rocks that form the East Afri-can Rift System are about the same age, suggests a high potential for oil in Kenya.

Gas discoveries in Tanzania and signifi-cant proven oil reserves along the border between Uganda and DR Congo have also encouraged interest in the once largely overlooked region.A host of other companies have been jostling for a piece of the exploration pie in the country’s potentially lucrative oil fields. In May 2011, BG Group Plc and Do-minion Petroleum Ltd led two sepa-rate groups in an oil exploration bid in Lamu. And last August, Canadian oil and gas explorer Africa Oil Corp awarded Weatherford International Ltd a contract for a drilling rig for an exploration well it plans to sink in northern Kenya, with its partners, later in the year. Weatherford is the world’s fourth-larg-est oilfield services company and it is expected to drill the rig at the Ngamia exploration well within Kenya’s Block

10BB. Africa Oil is also expected to sink its first test well in the final quarter of the year as part of an elaborate exploration programme in East Africa that is report-edly expected to cost $43 million. Before its exit mid this year, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) had worked with Africa Oil and Lion Energy Corp to drill an explora-tory well in block 9 in northern Kenya. It also had a license for block L2, an in-land area in the Lamu basin.

What the Experts are sayingIt is understood that the faults in the Al-bertine Rift are similar to the faults in Lake Turkana. It follows that if you found oil in the Albertine Rift, there is no rea-son not to find more oil in Lake Turkana. Equally, the discovery of gas reserves in Songo Songo off the coast of Tanzania is a pointer to the presence of hydrocar-bons off Kenya’s coastal belt. “All these faults are part of the African Rift System which begins somewhere near Mozambique and extends north to the Red Sea, so it is only a matter of time before oil is discovered in many places along the Rift System,” Said Dr Kamau Ngugi.Dr Ngugi, a lecturer at the department of Nuclear Science University of Nairobi and an energy expert said acknowledges that Kenya has made such a discovery and deserves to celebrate. President Mwai Kibaki on the other hand said that “This is the beginning of a long journey to make our country an oil producer, which typically takes in excess of three years,” Adding that “This is an excellent start to our major exploration campaign in the East African rift basins of Kenya and Ethiopia. To make a good oil discov-ery in our first well is beyond our expec-tations and bodes well for the material programme ahead of us. Tullow is work-ing closely with the government and people of Kenya as a committed long-term partner to unlock the oil potential of the region. We look forward to further success as seismic and drilling activities continue to gather pace.”

Expected ChallengesToday, Kenya imports all of its crude and refined oil, some of which is used to run

‘Indications show that Kenya could be having even more oil deposits, especially in Northern Kenya, Eastern as well as some parts of Western

Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi (left) and Tullow Oil Vice-President for Africa Business Tim O’Hanlon address a press conference in Nairobi after the oil discovery

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electricity generation during drought pe-riods when its main hydroelectric plants lose capacity. Italian gas exploration firm ENI last year announced its biggest ever find of natural gas off Mozambique, fur-ther down the East African coast, and several British firms are actively search-ing off Kenya’s southern neighbour, Tan-zania, for similar discoveries. As is with the experience in Gambia, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo and some oil rich North African states, certainly the oil mining industry comes with myriad of challenges, among them the territorial jurisdiction, displacement of population, compensation of lost land rights, serious environmental degrada-tion, concession agreements and, as is the norm with Africa, corruption.

Oil reserves and the New ConstitutionIndeed, it is conspicuous that the con-tinent is yet to come up with robust measures of managing such a gigantic resource opportunity. Even as Kenya lays strategic plans on how it will be manag-ing the historic, highly potential foreign exchange earner, experts are now ques-tioning the State’s preparedness in mak-ing the investment commercially viable. Their argument being Turkana County is extensively pastoral with unadjudicated communal land, meaning it is held in trust by the local government. The trick here is that the New Constitution pro-vides that all minerals as defined by law are public land. As a result, once oil is confirmed under private or communal land as is the case with Turkana one, such land will automatically become public. For it to so revert, therefore, com-pensation to such private owners will need to be paid following compulsory acquisition. In the past decades, researches have as-serted that Kenya has no known oil or gas reserves. But even with this, the country did not tire from encouraging foreign interest in oil exploration. “Kenya is en-dowed with innumerable energy sources including wood fuel, coal, solar and wind power, much of which is untapped. The country’s commercial energy needs are supplied by electricity, coal, fuel wood and oil-derived products,” said Dr Ngugi.

Currently, petroleum is Kenya’s major source of commercial energy and has, over the years, accounted for about 80 per cent of Kenya’s commercial energy requirements. Despite the recent oil discovery, demand for oil in Kenya is quite small due to its under developed economy, which is heavily dependent on labour intensive and rain-fed agricultural systems. Statistics show that the domes-tic demand for various petroleum fuels on average stands at 2.5 million tonnes per year, all of it imported from the Gulf region, normally as either crude oil for processing at the Kenya Petroleum Re-fineries Limited or as refined petroleum products. Dr Ngugi says prior to liberalisation in 1994, a major feature of Kenya’s oil sec-tor was a relatively high level of govern-ment’s direct participation. “Seven mar-keting and distribution companies were responsible for procuring and importing their own oil. The National Oil Corpora-tion of Kenya (Nock) was mandated to supply 30 per cent of the crude oil re-quirement into the country,” he said. But since liberalisation, many new play-ers have been licensed to engage in pe-troleum transactions, mostly import and export and retail of petroleum products. Despite the development, only about 10

new entrants are actively trading with a market presence of less than 10 per cent of the market share. Critics peg this slug-gish growth to tariff and non-tariff barri-ers to entry.

Where else is the Oil?Indications show that Kenya could be having even more oil deposits, espe-cially in Northern Kenya, Eastern as well as some parts of Western. According to the Minister of Energy, Kiraitu Murungi, these huge deposits are likely to spur the country’s growth, and indeed, even bring the attainment of the development grand plan, Vision 2030, closer. However lack of regulatory framework for the oil in-dustry could delay the process as Kenya waits for such legislations to be formu-lated. While Mr Murungi acknowledges that there are some unclear parts of the law surrounding oil production, the minister says the country is ready to “feel the taste of its honey”. The sector, however, is skeptical, with much at stake due to high costs and shaky laws for recovering and market-ing recently found oil. The oil firms are discouraged by the example of Uganda where oil finds lay stagnant for a long time now.

Engineers from Tullow, the British firm that discovered oil in Northern Kenya at work. The oil search lasted almost seven years.Photo By Articulate Edits.

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According to a recent statement by James Phillips, the chief operating officer of Canada’s Africa Oil Corporation, the firm which discovered gas in Block 9, the company won’t spend any resourc-es or move ahead with its plans in the region unless energy ministry develops guidance that would determine how that gas could be produced, and eventu-ally sold. “The government here is good and they’re very easy to work with, but they’re still finding their way,” Phillips said at an oil, gas and energy conference in Nairobi in March. Analysts say the current rules in Kenya are insufficient and do not account for the vast complications such as environ-mental concerns, production rates and revenue sharing agreements. For now, the oil and gas production and exploration process in Kenya is regulated by the Kenya Petroleum Act, a 13-page law passed around 1986, decades before its first oil find, and government officials say this needs to be revamped. Critics allege that because Kenyan offi-cials are inexperienced contracts can be skewed towards commercial interests, a risk fact or from inadequate regulation. Its regulations, too, fall short in handling environmental disasters and in protect-ing property rights of oil companies ne-gotiating with one another. Regulations usually dictate how compa-nies extract the deposits without infring-ing one another’s property rights.

Kenyan law is unclear on how to handle such a situation if it arises. “They’re not well prepared because there’s been no production in the past,” said Mwendia Nyaga, lead consultant at Oil & Energy Ltd, a consultant with the energy minis-try, adding: “The existing regulatory sys-tem needs to be improved as the issues they’re dealing with become more com-plex.” Commercial hydrocarbon deposits were discovered in Uganda in 2006 by Tullow, but a tax dispute between Kam-pala and Heritage Oil, Tullow’s former partner in the oilfields, and wrangling over the production sharing agreements, resulted in delays to oil production. In a similar tax dispute over unclear rules, Cove Energy said it was seeking clarity from Mozambique on a possible levy related to the sale of the British gas explorer, raising the prospect of a tax battle and potential delay to the $1.8 bil-lion deal. Martin Heya, the country’s pe-troleum commissioner, says the country will not fall into the same pitfalls as its neighbours. “We think we have learned a lot from those who have discovered oil earlier than us,” Heya said, days before the Tullow discovery was made public. “We are preparing regulations.”

Impact of oil prospects to Kenya’s econ-omy As a matter of fact, Kenya’s oil import bills have been on the rise for over a dec-

ade now. Last year, it went up by 54.5 per cent to Sh166.4 billion. According to the economic survey released by the ministry of planning, the increase was as a result of the political instability in the Middle East and North Africa region, which triggered supply shortage fears. “The exchange rate has weakened and the low rainfall levels have called for more diesel consumption in power gen-eration,” said Patrick Obath, chairman of Kenya Private Sector Association. The data by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows the oil bill rose 62.9 per cent in July 2011 to Sh22.2 billion, compared to Sh13.6 billion in the same month two years ago. Statistics show that oil is Kenya’s second largest import com-modity, accounting for over 25 per cent of the country’s total imports. With the rise of the oil bill, the country’s half-year trade balance also went up by 42.4 per cent, spelling doom to a once sterling economy. By June 2011, Kenya’s balance of pay-ment was negative Sh410 billion, com-pared to a deficit of Sh287 billion for the same period in 2010. The proportion of electricity generated using diesel generators rose 89.5 per cent to 235 million kilowatt hours, while hydro-generated power dropped by 19.4 per cent to 262 million kilowatt hours in July, the Kenya National Bureau of Statis-tics data showed. The country’s sole power supplier, Kenya Power has been reviewing the fuel cost segment of the power tariffs to a record Sh8.2 per unit, up from Sh6.7 and Sh3.8 in January. The change will see households that con-sume 100 units of electricity or less pay Sh2,323.2 compared to Sh1,808.4 in January 2011, a 28.4 per cent increase. According to analysts, the oil finds in Uganda and Ghana, combined with the current surge in international prices for crude, have done a lot to reshape the per-ception of oil prospects in new geologi-cal fields such as East Africa’s, attracting capital into the region. Just 25 years ago, leading authorities in oil exploration were dismissing Uganda and Ghana as not worth attention on the grounds that at 25 million years, East Africa’s basins were too young to yield oil

Engineers walk past the place where the oil deposits sit. It has been a tiring search, full of challenges that forced other countries to give up.Photo By Articulate Edits


COVER STORY

Exploration Block Map of Kenya: Government of Kenya Revised Edition 2006: Courtesy of National Oil Corporation of Kenya.

TURKANA OIL


The discovery of oil in Ngamia1 Turkana County was received with optimism for Kenya’s fu-ture economy. However before

the dust could even settle reports of se-cret deals began to emerge with local dailies reporting of unlawful dealings and land scandals. In one of the reports Trade minister Mo-ses Wetang’ula and Energy Permanent Secretary Patrick Nyoike and Kenyan born international businessman based in the UK, Mr.Amyn Lakhani,were men-tioned as having being involved in the sale of land in Block 10BB in Turkana.According to the reports the three were linked to Turkana Energy Incorporation, the parent company of Turkana Devel-opment Corporation (TDC) which sold Block 10BB for $10 million (Sh840 mil-lion) in 2010.TDC later sold the 3.1 million acre block of land to Canadian firm Africa Oil Cor-poration which, in turn, sold 50 per cent of its stake in the block to Anglo-Irish firm Tullow Oil. Tullow Oil was the firm that struck the black gold in Ngamia.This revelation saw a spark of reactions mostly from Turkana leaders who de-manded the Government make a full dis-closure of the deal it entered with Tullow

Oil Company. The MP’s threatened to go to court if government did not disclose the deals.So far Mr.Wetangula has denied being personally involved in the sale but ad-mitted that a law firm he formed acted in the transaction. Mr.Wetangula says he has since resigned from the law firm and can therefore not be linked to the sale.In 2010, a firm that was denied explo-ration license accused the Energy PS of colluding with TDC to “steal” results of a chemical analysis of a substance it had discovered in Turkana, believed to be crude oil.The firm, Interstate Petroleum Company, claimed it had submitted three samples to Mr.Nyoike for chemical analysis but was never given the results of the tests.On his part the PS, Mr.Nyoike in a press statement to clear his name said his min-istry has acted in accordance with the law. According to him all the procedures as depicted in the Petroleum Exploration and Production Act (Cap 308 of the laws of Kenya) were followed.In the statement published in a local dai-ly the Ps confirmed that indeed there was a court case that was filed by IPC but the company lost the case. The PS accused the Media of sensationalizing the issues.

Kenya’s Black Gold…Accusationsand Defenses By Omar Shabaan

Tullow Oil plc (Tullow) an-nounced that the Ngamia-1 exploration well had encoun-

tered in excess of 20 metres of net oil pay. The well, located in the Turkana County Block 10BB, was drilled to an intermediate depth of 1,041 metres and has been successfully logged and sam-pled. Moveable oil with an API greater than 30 degrees has been recovered to surface. This oil has similar properties to the light waxy crude discovered in Uganda.The Ngamia structure is the first pros-pect to be tested as part of a multi-well drilling campaign in Kenya and Ethio-pia. Many leads and prospects similar to Ngamia have been identified and following this discovery the outlook for further success has been significantly improved.The well will now be drilled to a depth of approximately 2,700 me-tres to explore for deeper potential. On completion of operations, the Weath-erford 804 rig will move to the Tullow Operated Block 10A where the Paipai-1 wildcat will spud in 2H 2012.Tullow has a 50% operated interest in multiple licenses in the Kenya & Ethi-opia Rift Basins covering in excess of 100,000 square kilometers. The Turka-na County where the Ngamia discovery has been made, is one of seven basins mapped in Tullow’s acreage and is sim-ilar in size to the 9,000 square kilom-eter Lake Albert Rift basin in Uganda.Tullow operates 50% of Block 10BB in partnership with Africa Oil (50%). An-gus McCoss, Exploration Director, said: “This is an excellent start to our major exploration campaign in the East Afri-can rift basins of Kenya and Ethiopia. To make a good oil discovery in our first well is beyond our expectations and bodes well for the material pro-gramme ahead of us.Tullow is working closely with the Government and people of Kenya as a committed long term partner to unlock the oil potential of the region. The com-pany looks forward to further success as seismic and drilling activities con-tinue to gather pace.

Ngamia-1 Oil Discovery in Kenya Rift Basin

Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi shows to the media a bottle containing crude oil samples from Ngamia 1 oil rig

NEWS


‘Water depth over Mbawa is about 800 metres, eas-ily within the range of modern drilling and pro-duction technology.

Just weeks after the significant dis-covery of oil in the Northern part of the country, a Houston based oil and gas exploration company has

secured a deep-water drilling ship for gi-ant Mbawa Prospect off Lamu archipela-go.Apache Kenya Ltd. who operate and own 50 per cent of the block secured the use of the ship-Deepsea Metro 1 that will be used to sink a well on the billion bar-rel Mbawa prospect.The actual date to commence operations is hoped to be in the third quarter of 2012. However, according to Panconti-nental, commence of works will depend on when the drilling rig is finished with its current operations. “Apache is anticipating a spud date within Q3 2012, with the actual date depending on when the drilling rig is finished with its current operations,” Pancontinental’s Chief Executive Officer Barry Rushworth said in a statement.Seismic indicators show what looks like gas-over-oil-over-water at its primary target. Pancontinental estimates that Mbawa has maximum potential to con-tain 4.9 Billion Barrels of oil and a gas cap of 284 Billion Cubic Feet in place at

Offshore Oil Next Big Exploration

the main Tertiary- Cretaceous level with significant additional potential also to be tested by the well at the deeper Upper Jurassic level and shallower Tertiary lev-els. However, only drilling can verify the oil and gas volumetric potential (if any) at the well. Further estimates show that Mbawa has in-place and unrisked potential to contain at the deeper Top Jurassic level of up to 323 Million Barrels oil (P10) or 525 Billion Cubic Feet gas (P10).This however is subject to risks like the fact that there is limited data for reservoir

parameters on the East African margin thus there is no control on interpretation of Jurassic carbonates and the lack of a commercial discovery of hydrocarbons in Jurassic carbonates on the East African margin.Water depth over Mbawa is about 800 metres, easily within the range of mod-ern drilling and production technology. The well is expected to take some 45 to 60 days to complete to a planned depth of 3,250m sub-sea in water depth of 860m, easily within the range of modern equipment.The East Africa has become a focus of interest for oil and gas exploration, but a worldwide shortage of rigs threatens to slow growth and increase the cost of operations.Pancontinental who hold 15 per cent of the block has a total of four projects off-shore Kenya covering more than 18,000 square kilometres in licence areas L6, L8, L10A and L10B, with the L8 Mbawa project being the most advanced and the first prospect to be drilled. Other partners in the block are Origin Energy Ltd who own 20 per cent and Tullow Oil with a 15 per cent share.

An offshore oil rig


The Government of Kenya through the National Irrigation Board has given special atten-tion to irrigation development

as depicted by the funds availed for de-velopment of irrigation projects under the expanded irrigation programme. Un-der this programme, special focus was given to the arid and semi aria areas that include Daua in Mandera Country, Ha-basweni in Wajir County, Rahole canal in Garissa County and several irrigation projects in Turkana County.

Irrigation in KenyaKenya is estimated to have an irrigation potential of 539,000 ha and a drain-age potential of and 600,000ha.Erratic rainfall patterns coupled with increas-ing frequency and severity of droughts overwhelmingly challenge rain-fed ag-riculture and make irrigated agriculture indispensable in Kenya. It is widely rec-ognized that although the agricultural sector remains the backbone of the economy, the scope for expanding ag-ricultural production through expansion

of arable agricultural land is severely constrained since only about 20% of the country has a high or potential, alleviat-ing food insecurity and poverty.Currently, only 102,000 ha (19%) of the irrigable land has been exploited. Of these, about 47,000ha are small holder schemes managed by farmers, water user associations and cooperatives; pub-lic irrigation schemes (managed by NIB) covering 13,000ha;and private irrigation farms covering 42,000ha.With improved water harvesting and storage technolo-

Irrigation Development Programmes

IRRIGATION

Banana grown under irrigation. Courtesy of National Irrigation Board.


gies, the current irrigation potential can be increased by a further 800,000ha to 1.3 million ha. This can be enhanced further with effective exploitation of un-derground water resources and innova-tive management of transboundary water resources.

Turkana Irrigation Development Pro-grammesIn the recent years, Turkana has experi-enced severe drought leading to loss of human lives. This has prompted the Gov-ernment to give priority to irrigation de-velopment in the County as a measure to ensure food security. The County has had numerous attempts to promote irrigation

by NGOs, government agencies among others whose impact has not been felt mainly because of lack of funds, techni-cal capacity and coordination in irriga-tion development. Most of the irrigation projects draw water from River Turkwel and River Keiyo. The irrigation schemes include Katilu, Na-kamane, Nakwamoru, Molurem, Nada-pal, Naoros, Loborot, Lokubae, Elelea, Kalemuyang, Kapelobok, and Koburo-kor. Under the expanded irrigation pro-gramme, the Government availed funds to revive the schemes through rehabili-tation of infrastructure and expansion. The Board is currently implementing the rehabilitation and expansion programme

for the Turkana Irrigation project where good progress has been seen.

Katilu Irrigation SchemeIt is located 600Km from Nairobi near the border of the Pokot and Turkana communities within Turkana South Dis-trict of Rift Valley Province and draws its water from an unregulated side intake on the right bank of the River Turkwel. The project lies within the semi-arid climate zone classified as low potential area in-terms of rain-fed agriculture. This zone is characterized with high daily tem-peratures (ranging 25C – 35C) and high evapo-transpiration (over 5mm/day). The area experiences unreliable and erratic

IRRIGATION

Flood gates at Mwea Irrigation Scheme in Kirinyaga County

mean annual rainfall of about 600mm. Most of the population engages in no-madic pastoralism but this lifestyle is slowly changing following the onset of irrigation development along the river banks and the persistent droughts deci-mating the livestock. The irrigation farmers are engaged in subsistence agriculture where they grow food crops (Maize, cowpeas, beans, sorghum) and vegetables. The soils are fertile silt clay loam which are deep and formed from riverine deposits. The farmers have been attending sensi-tization sessions to attain food self-reli-ance through irrigation. The rehabilita-tion programme has been rolled out to cover the rest of the Turkana irrigation projects identified under the expanded irrigation programme.

Reconstruction of Intake works and lin-ing of Main canalThe irrigation system in Katilu is a grav-ity fed furrow irrigation system where water is conveyed from the river to the farms through a network of earth canals

and distributed to the farms using fur-rows. The canal network supplies wa-ter to a total of 300 ha of the irrigable area. The farmers in Katilu mainly grow maize, sorghum, pulses and vegetables for home consumption. The Board has taken huge strides in re-habilitation of the scheme through the construction of the intake works, lining of main canal, excavation of silted up branch and secondary canals, construc-tion of water control structures and road crossing and bush clearing for 800ha. Using the rehabilitated structures, the scheme farmers have planted maize on 248ha and have started harvesting. The Board has given production support to the farmers in the scheme that include land preparation, supply of seeds and fertilizer among others and intends to create a revolving fund for agricultural production.

NIB and the Vision 2030Both the Vision 2030 and the First Me-dium Term Plan (MTP) recognize the important role that irrigation is expected

to play in improving agricultural produc-tivity and meeting Kenya’s food security needs. The MTP estimates that irrigation can increase agricultural productivity four-fold and, depending on the crops, multiply incomes by up to ten times. This is based on experience from other countries which have shown that irriga-tion is a major driver of agricultural pro-ductivity. The government is therefore committed to promote irrigation based farming for both food and cash crops. It targets to exploit the agricultural po-tentials in ASAL areas by putting an addi-tional 600,000ha under irrigation. Spe-cifically, the MTP aims to increase the amount of land under irrigation in the country by over 100% by establishing an additional 25 small-scale irrigation schemes throughout the country and sev-eral large scale irrigation schemes main-ly in the Tana River, Athi River, Mwea, Yatta, Nyando and NZOIA Basins.

Article Courtesy of National Irrigation Board.


NIB officials pay a visit to farmers at Mwea Irrigation Scheme.

KENYA ENGINEER - JAN / FEB 2012 53

In Kenya, the quality of students ad-mitted into engineering programs is very high with the average grade in the cluster being A, and overall

grade of A- and above. However, the motivation to continue to maintain high grades depends on the university envi-ronment. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many engineering students lose their enthusiasm and are only interested in passing exams. An insignificant propor-tion of students participate in national and international engineering competi-tions and exhibitions while at the univer-sity. The quality of an engineering degree programs or any university program can be expressed as an equation as shown below:Quality of Engineering program = QS x QF x QL x QC --------------------------- (1)

Where QS- quality of students admitted mea-sured using KCSE and cluster grades and the degree of motivation of the students as measured by, for example, participa-tion in design competitions or exhibitionsQF -quality of faculty teaching measured using the proportion with doctoral de-grees, professional registration, engineer-ing consulting experience and research publications and/or graduate students supervision recordQL -Quality of learning environment defined by quality of classroom, teach-ing labs, library, access to broadband In-ternet and quality of industry university linkagesQC – Quality and currency of the cur-riculum as defined by academic area trends, industry needs and expected learning outcomes

The quality of faculty teaching in engi-neering departments is still relatively high in terms of graduate qualifications from good universities. However, a sig-nificant number are not members of any professional body and are not engaged in scholarly research work. Some quali-fied faculty have not even bothered to be registered with ERB. Most of the en-gineering departments have a relatively low Masters’ and PhD degree throughput and some have never graduated any doc-toral students. However, it is the quality of learning environment (QL) that has suffered the most for engineering departments. Most of the engineering departments have not upgraded their laboratory equipment in the last 20 years in any significant way. Others do not even have labs for their students and rely on other universities for

Quality Assurance and Accreditation of DegreesBy Prof.Meoli Kashorda

EDUCATION

University of Nairobi Engineering students during a practical lesson

NEWS


lab facilities. The library books are dated and students now rely almost wholly on free e-books available on the Internet. The existing lab facilities are not ade-quate for the increased enrolment of the students – some were designed for less than 50 students while the enrolment has increased in some cases by a factor of three. For example, the department of Electri-cal Engineering at the University of Nai-robi admits about 140 students for the same facilities that were used in the 90s for 50 students. No quality assurance body has assessed the quality of engineering degree pro-grams offered in terms of currency, rele-vance and learning outcomes. However, using the above formula and based on evidence, it is clear that a detailed study of the quality of engineering programs is necessary. Newspaper reports and the LIWA initiative by KEPSA suggest that in-dustry is dissatisfied with the quality of engineering graduates.

Commission for Higher EducationIt is the government body responsible for accreditation of universities and degree programs. Its functions have however been limited to private universities be-cause the public universities are created by specific Acts of Parliament and do not accept oversight by CHE under the Uni-versities Act that is supposed to regulate all universities in Kenya.However once the revised Universities Bill is passed by parliament, CHE will regulate, accredit and provide external quality assurance of the engineering de-gree programs offered by Public Univer-sities and University Colleges in Kenya.

Engineers Registration Board Currently, ERB regulates engineering de-gree programs, although its mandate is limited to registration of engineers from recognized degree programs and uni-versities. The role of accreditation is del-egated by CHE. Accreditation is a contin-uous improvement process that aims to

strengthen engineering degree programs by checking on the developmental plans of each faculty or department and re-viewing the curriculum and the faculty teaching in the programs among other things. It is therefore possible for ERB to have an expanded mandate by changing the law and enhancing the capacity of ERB for accreditation but also to include local engineering associations like the Institu-tion of Engineers of Kenya.

Linking students with IndustryIn the 1970s and the 1980s, all of the en-gineering students were either sponsored

‘The existing lab facilities are not adequate for the increased enrolment of the students – some were de-signed for less than 50 stu-dents while the enrolment has increased

A lab technician takes UoN students through an experiment

NEWS


by Government or by local industry. For example, the then Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPTC) would spon-sor students while they were at university pursuing degrees in Electrical Engineer-ing and Mechanical Engineering. These companies influenced the content of the degree courses and also offered industry attachment with supervision by senior engineers. This structured linkage with industry has declined significantly partly because of the high enrolment of the engineering departments making it difficult for lo-cal industry to absorb the students into structured attachments The companies have also reduced their offer of attach-ments in order to reduce cost of labour. Engineering students now do not neces-sarily work under experienced engineers or even engineering departments during their attachment periods. However, new forms of collaboration have emerged. Some of the leading companies now of-fer graduate internships to fresh gradu-

ates. Others support engineering exhibi-tions of engineering students’ projects.

Transition from Graduate Engineer to registered engineersStudents who graduate with degree pro-grams recognized by ERB can register as Graduate Engineers. The graduate engi-neers are then expected to go through a structured trainee program supervised by an engineer for at least two years, then work as an engineer under supervision for at least one more year before ap-plying to be a registered engineer. That means the total time required to be a reg-istered engineer is now eight years from first year of university education.

The Future of Engineering Education in KenyaEngineering education in Kenya will have an international focus and the engineer-ing departments will need to start at-tracting international students. Africa has many infrastructure projects in roads,

construction, ICT and as well as growth in the consumer industries of retail, tele-communications and information sys-tems. It is therefore time for engineers in Kenya to step up to the challenge when our degrees go global.The McKinsey Global Institute report on growth of African economies titled “Li-ons on the Move” forecast that Africa will be the main source of labour for the world by the year 2030. The challenge is for our engineering schools to adopt and provide relevant and high quality engi-neering education not only for Kenya but for Africa.

The writer is a lecturer in Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Nairobi. He is also a Member of Editorial Committee of the Kenya Engineer Journal since 1992.

NEWS


Power development in Kenya over the past 40 years has im-proved from being predomi-nantly hydro based with the risk

of power shortages caused by seasonal droughts to about 50% hydro based plus other sources. Out of the installed capac-ity of about 1500MW as at November, 2011, Hydropower is 766.88MW (51%), Thermal (diesel and co-generation) is 452MW (30%), Geothermal is 198MW (13%), Gas Turbines 60MW (4%) and Wind power 5.1MW (0.34%). Feasibil-ity studies have been done or ongoing for other forms power generation that include 500MW Geothermal develop-ment, 600MW Coal plant, 400MW Wind Power, 30MW Municipal Waste to Electricity plant, 500MW Liquefied Nat-

ural Gas and 30MW Solar Power.

Hydropower DevelopmentHydropower development in Kenya can be classified into major hydropower plant with over 10MW rating and small hydropower plant with a rating of not more than 10MW. Feasibility studies started in 1950’s confirmed the viability of the Seven Forks cascade hydropower complex with a potential of about eleven power plants namely Masinga, Kamburu, Gitaru, Kindaruma, Kiambere, Karura, Mutonga, Low grand Falls, Usueni, Ad-amsons Falls, and Kora. The first five were developed between 1968 and 1988 while the remaining six are awaiting im-plementation. By 1970, the only major hy-dropower plant was Kindaruma (40MW)

with two units of 20MW each commis-sioned in 1968. Tana hydropower plant with a total of 14.4MW had five units rated between 2MW to 4MW each com-missioned between 1932 and 1952. Sub-sequent power generation on the Tana River followed in Kamburu (94.2MW) in 1974, Gitaru (145MW) in 1978 with third unit (80MW) in 1999, Masinga (40MW) in 1981 and Kiambere (144MW) in 1988 with an upgrade of 24MW being done in 2010. After these most economical sites were exhausted, development shifted to other river basins with Turkwel (106MW) being completed in 1991 and Sondu-Miriu (60MW) in 2008. The total hydro-power potential as at November, 2011 is about 5500MW with 2500MW being major Hydropower Plants and 3000MW

Hydro-Power Development in Kenya over Four Decades By Eng. Albert Mugo


being small Hydropower Plants. Some of the major hydropower plants are briefly described below in the order in which they were constructed.

Kindaruma Power StationInstalled capacity - 2 x 20MWYear of commissioning -1968Turbine Manufacturer - BOVINGGenerator Manufacturer -Associated Electric Industries

There are two Kaplan type turbines at Kindaruma. As at 2011, a 3rd unit of 24MW is being installed and the existing units being upgraded by 20% to 24MW. Although the station is over 30 years old it is in excellent condition as its gen-erators have recently been refurbished.

Power from Kindaruma is transmitted di-rectly to Nairobi via a 132KV line or to Kamburu 132KV substation. The water is then passed down to Kiambere commis-sioned in 1988

Kamburu Power StationKamburu power station was the second major power station in independent Ke-nya after Kindaruma power station. It was commissioned in 1974. It has three vertical Francis turbines. The spillway has three radial gates and one flap gate.The cost of the plant was about USD 47 million (KShs. 344 million) and the proj-ect took seven years from feasibility stud-ies to construction. The ground breaking for the construction work was done on 29th June 1971 and commissioning of the plant on 5th July 1974.

Machine Designs and Capacity94.2 MW (3Units x 31.4MW each)

Gitaru Power StationInstalled capacity -2 x 72.5MW -1 x 80.25MW – Dec 1999 Year of commissioning - 1978Manufacturer of Turbines - VOITHManufacturer of Generator -SIEMENSGenerator Voltage - 15KV

This is the biggest power station in East Africa in terms of installed capacity. Two vertical Francis turbines drive generators rated at 85MVA each at a net head of 135m were installed in 1978. The pow-er produced is transmitted to Kamburu 132KV Substation, via two 132KV circuits and the station is remotely controlled from Kamburu. The third unit installed in 1999 produc-es 80MW at 15kV that is stepped up to 220kV and is fed into the National Grid at the Kamburu 220kV substation. The water is then passed onto Kindaruma, the oldest Power Station in the complex via

an underground 4.7KM tailrace tunnel.

Masinga Power StationMasinga reservoir with a storage capaci-ty of 1560 million cubic metres is the up-permost on in the Seven Forks Complex cascade and it regulates water to four other stations downstream. The plant was conceived in 1960’s immediately after the commissioning of Kindaruma power station in 1968. By the time Kam-buru power station was being commis-sioned in 1974, Tana River Development Authority TRDA, under finance provid-ed by the United Kingdom Ministry of Overseas Development commissioned Watermeyer Legge Piesold & Uhlmann (WLPU) consultants to investigate a long term Tana basin development strategy within the content of alternative plans for public water supply, irrigation and hydro-power. [[email protected] Proc. Instn Civ.Engrs, Part 1, 76 Nov 999 – 1025].The cost of the plant was about USD172 million (KShs 1.24 billion) and the project took seven years from feasibility studies to construction. The ground breaking for the construction work was done on 2nd March 1978 and commissioning of the plant on 2nd December 1981.

Projects In Progressi) A feasibility study of raising of the Ma-singa dam wall by 1.5m has been done to increase the storage capacity for the 7-Forks cascade by about 12% and en-ergy in the cascade by about 90 Giga-watt hours per year. [Norplan report of June, 2007]. The work is expected to take about 12 months and the estimated cost is USD 15 million.ii) The plant is very reliable and has gen-erated 4,347,976,000 Kwh to date with an average annual availability factor of 96%.

Kiambere Power StationInstalled capacity - 2 x 72MWYear of commissioning - 1988Turbine Manufacturer - MIL of CanadaGenerator Manufacturer - MILEstimated Cost -Kshs.4 billion (1984) (USD 250Million)

There are two 72MW Francis Turbines driving two 85MVA generators at 11KV.

‘Gitaru is the biggest power station in East Africa in terms of installed capacity.

HYDRO POWER

Sondu Miriu Hydro-Power Plant


Since it is currently the last dam on the Tana river cascade, the machines run mostly as base load hence the large power generation in the country with an annual load factor of 75%. The un-derground powerhouse is situated 4km away from the saddle dam where the intake structure is situated and the wa-ter conveyance is by 6 metre diameter headrace tunnel. The station was con-structed by the Tana & Athi River Devel-opment Authority. The power is connect-ed to the national grid via three 220KV transmission lines to Kamburu, Rabai and Embakasi.The plant was upgraded from 144MW to 168 MW (an increase of 16.6%) in 2010 at a cost of Shs 900 million (USD 12 Million). The Consultants were Norplan Ag of Norway while the Contractor was Voith of Germany.

Turkwel Hydro Electric Power PlantTurkwel dam is a concrete arch dam with a storage capacity of 1650million cubic metres .It is situated in the North-West of Kenya on the Turkwel river about 550km by road from Nairobi. The project was conceived as multi-purpose project to comprise of hydropower development, agricultural development downstream and fisheries and tourist upstream.

So far, only hydropower development has been realized. This was implement-ed under the control of Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA) from 1986 -1991 when the power station was commissioned for commercial opera-tion. The consultants were Watermeyer, Legge, Piesold & Ulhmann of U.K, the Engineers were Sogreah of France and Contractor Spie Batignolles of France.

Construction FeaturesDam: Double curvature arch dam crest length 150m, Reservoir Volume : 1.65 billion cubic metres covering 6,500ha in a natural gorge. Head Race Tunnel length : 2.8 KmPenstock length : 0.31KmTailrace: 1150MMaximum reservoir level: 1150M above sea level.Catchment area: 5900Km2Development Cost: Approx KSh. 7 bil-lion (Approx. USD 160 Million)

EquipmentTurbines: Two 53.7 MW, Vertical Francis turbines, 600RPM, Discharge 17 m3/sEffective head: 356 m Generation Voltage: 11 kVTransformers: Two, 59 MVA, 11/220 kV,

0.9 power factor

Connection To Grid220 kV -210km, single circuit line to Les-sos Substation in Eldoret where it joins the national grid

Recent DevelopmentsThe plant was automated in year 2007 with latest Supervisory Control and Data acquisition System (SCADA) together with the other five major hydropower plants to improve operational efficiency.

Performance To DateUnits generated to date: 6,362,621,000 Kwh.The highest level ever reached: 1,133.45 metres above sea level (masl) on 7th Oc-tober, 2007

The Turkwel Gorge Project has an ex-ceptional ability to provide protection against long term and severe drought conditions due to its large storage. Over the years the Plant has enjoyed an average annual availability factor of over 91%.

Sondu-Miriu Hydropower Electric Power PlantThis plant is a run-of-river type of hydro-power plant with a capacity of 60MW. It is situated in the plateau of Nyakach escarpment on its Northern slope about 30km South-South East of Kisumu.It was constructed with a possibility of adding another plant just after it of about 20MW which currently in progress and is due for commissioning early 2012.Installed capacity: 2 Units x 30MWYear of Commissioning: 2008Net Head: 178.4metresMaximum discharge: 39.9 m3 total per for both unitsTransmission line: 132KV single circuit 49km connecting to the Sondu-Miriu power station and existing Kisumu sub-station.Consultants: Nippon KoeiContractors: Mitsui-Toshiba Consor-tium, Konoike-Taisei JV(KT), IHI Corpora-tion, Kinden Corporation and others.Estimated Cost: KShs 15Billion (USD 150 Million)

HYDRO POWER

Turkwel Dam


ESA

There was a time when the coo-lies broke their backs to come up with the Kenya Uganda rail-way system, by then there was

no Kenya engineer in the professional sense. Even though black –Kenyans were bursting with energy we do not hear of Kenyans who participated in its con-struction yet we still have the railway with few changes but mostly as struc-tured by the European imperialists who lay it, of course we may say it is ours. Fast-forward a century, the china man is constructing the Thika super highway, a model we look to as the archetype of our future: Vision 2030. Still of course, we say the road is ours only this time we got our own engineers! If one were to delve into the complexities that surround these circumstances one would conclude that both situations would not be otherwise but again effort has to be made to shift these trends. To propel an economy forward energy has to be provided and saved, a major area of energy consump-tion is the transportation sector. The current modes of transport that we have depend on oil fuels. Research has however shown that oil has its evils, which include a harmful effect on our ozone layer to the risk of oil running out and grinding our machines to a halt. This then makes it imperative that we seek ways that will keep our transport in motion while keeping the environment green. This time round it should be of our own, researched and developed by Ken-yans, how proudly ours it would be then.Magnetically levitated (MAGLEV) trains are a future application of HTS {High Temperature Superconductor} develop-ment. Looking back you cannot help but notice that the train as we have it here now is as it was a century ago. This is an indication of a hiatus in learning or mas-sive laziness. The development of trains and rails began in the early 1800s in

foreign lands. The modern conventional train is no faster (at 180 Km/h) than those of the late 1890. Have you ever seen a rift valley railways train labor upon its tracks at 30 km/h? Surely, an engineer in the 21 century cannot be delighted with that. Even the electric ones are not that far removed from their coal driven cousins showing that conventional trains have reached the end phase in terms of their development and improvement.France, Germany, and Japan have de-veloped “high-speed” or “bullet” trains capable of speeds of 150-180 mph. This improvement is on speed, improved rails and controls. However, this technology is also at its end phase in the sense of development. One limiting factor for these trains is the expensive and time-consuming maintenance of the rails that they use. The mechanical friction of the wheels on the tracks is the Hercules heel of these trains. This leads to the thought of having trains that fly! This presents the need to develop magnetically levitated (no friction) trains.The idea of MAGLEV transportation has been around since the early 1900s. The benefit of eliminating the wheel/rail fric-tion to obtain higher speeds and lower maintenance costs has great appeal. The basic idea of a MAGLEV train is to levi-tate it with magnetic fields so there is no physical contact between the train and the rails. To get from this simple concept to a real operational system involves enormous technological developments. In Germany and Japan, they have devel-oped functioning demonstration trains. To date there are no existing construction designs that include HTS magnets, but a sneak preview of MAGLEV trains de-velopment in Japan and Germany may help explain why HTS magnets should be considered in future development. Moreover, as it is that we have some of the best brains in the world here at home

why not join the research and develop-ment at the infancy of this technology.Two different concepts of magnetic sus-pension have evolved since this idea came around. The first, attractive electro-magnetic suspension (EMS) uses electro-magnets on the train body, which attract to the iron rails. The vehicle magnets wrap around the iron rails and the attrac-tive upward force lifts the train. The sec-ond, using electrodynamic suspension (EDS) levitates the train by repulsive forc-es from the induced currents in the con-ductive rails. In both of these systems, the levitating magnets mount to a num-ber of “bogies” connected to the train body by a secondary suspension system of dampers and springs. However, there is a fundamental difference between these two systems. In the EMS system, the “airgap” between the rails and train magnets is very small (about half inch), whereas the “airgap” in the EDS system may be as large as 8-10 inches. The small airgap of the EMS system implies much more stringent controls to maintain this small gap. The superconducting mag-nets that are in use in these systems have been of the low temperature variety. Be-cause these operate below liquid helium temperature (4.2 K) these are expensive and complex systems. The technological advantages of op-erating HTS magnets at liquid nitrogen temperatures are many including incred-ible speeds ride comfort, ease of mainte-nance and reduced accidents: This is the view an engineer has to have for propul-sion. From class five we know about the evils of friction we have to stop thinking about ways to live with it but how to re-duce it to the point of elimination.If we receive the same education as our peers elsewhere, we cannot just sit back and invoke helplessness while they engi-neer our country. We have to apply our skills.

MAGLEV-The View of a Student EngineerBy Achola Kevin for ESA


IEK

The Institution of Engineers of Kenya (IEK) is delighted to announce the Engi-neers International Conference 2012 on the theme “The Role of Engineering Practitioners in the Implementation of the Constitution”. The IEK Confer-ence is the premier forum for leaders in governments, private sector and aca-

demia to exchange ideas, information, experience and knowledge with professionals in the field of engineering.

Papers are invited from participants and other interested parties addressing topics re-lated to the conference theme.Abstracts which should be in Microsoft Word and not more than 300 words should be forwarded to the Secretariat by 31st March, 2012.

Full papers which should be in Microsoft Word, minimum of 10 pages, should be submitted to IEK Secretariat by 15th April, 2012. The presentation which should be on Power Point, should be sent to the Secretariat before the date of the Conference.Presenters will be required to submit a digital passport photo together with a 50 word resume.

The Institution further invites advertisements on the Conference Magazine. All art-works should be received by 1st April, 2012.

The Conference will provide an opportunity to exhibit and showcase creative and innovative solutions consistent with the theme. Exhibition stands of size 3M x 2M will be available at competitive rates. The exhibition will run through the 3 days of the conference.

Annual Dinner Dance will be held on Friday, 11th May, 2012.

For more details contact: Anita/Christopher at the IEK Secretariat on: -20 – 2729326/20 – 2610813, 0721 – 729 363.E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.iekenya.org

INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS OF KENYA (IEK)

ENGINEERS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2012

VENUE: KENYATTA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTRE

DATE: WEDNESDAY, 9TH to FRIDAY, 11TH MAY, 2012


IEK

The Council of the Institution has announced its nominations for the year 2011/20120. They are:

Section AChairman – Eng D Wanjau-Maina1st Vice-Chairman - Eng Julius Riungu2nd Vice-Chairman - Eng Reuben K KosgeiImmediate Past Chairman- Eng F W Ngokonyo

Section B No voting is required for this Section since there was no alternative nominations.ProposedHon Treasurer – Eng Richard K Chepkwony CouncilHon Secretary – Eng Mwamzali Shiribwa CouncilOrdinary Council Members. 6 names required. Delete 4 names Proposed SecondedEng Hillary J Njaanga CouncilEng Weche R Okubo CouncilEng Jan Mutai CouncilEng Rosemary W Kungu CouncilEng Michael E Okonji CouncilEng Collins Juma CouncilEng Henry S Amaje Eng V W Wanyama Eng J N SemoEng Mrs Veronica W Maundu Eng B M Mwakio Eng B KjengaEng John M Nyakiba Eng S N Ndirangu Eng B N gooEng Paul Ochieng’ Eng J M S Wekesa Eng G M asa

Members may submit alternative nominations for the offices of Hon Treasurer and Hon Secretary and for members of the Council.

2011/2012 Council Elections New IEK Members

M.3215 M. C. MukiriaM.4136 T. M. NjeruM.4125 B. L. MulamaM.4033 B. L. KibetM.4073 E. K. NjiruM.3685 F. D. TsumaM.4147 F. Byakika M.4067 G. S. GichaneM.4122 A. K. OkongoM.4150 B. M. Njoroge M.4149 D. K. GitauM.4101 D. K. GathuM.4086 D. O. MbugeM.4127 E. M. KibathiM.4102 G. AuraM.4126 J. M. RapandoM.4208 J. AbekahM.4123 L. O. MesopirM.4145 M. B. NamiindaM.4234 M. K. GakuruM.4082 N. MwemaM.4148 P. K. MwangiM.4145 R. K. MuniM.4196 R. K. NjorogeM.4121 S. K. KimaniM.4104 S. M. MuturiM.4105 T. M. GithunguM.4100 W. K. Kosgei


IEK

FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATIONEng. D M Wanjau-Maina ChairmanEng. M.Shiribwa SecretaryEng. R Chepkwony Hon TreasurerEng. J Riungu 1st Vice ChairmanEng. R Kosgei 2nd Vice Chairman

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEEEng. M E Okonji ChairmanEng. M Shiribwa MemberEng. S N Charagu MemberEng. Rosemary Kung’u MemberEng. W Okubo MemberEng. John Nyaguti Member

DISCIPLINE AND ARBITRATION COMMITTEEEng. Francis Ngokonyo MemberEng. Shem O Noah MemberEng. E Mwongera MemberEng. W Okubo Member

TRAINING COMMITTEEEng. J Riungu ChairmanEng. S Ouna SecretaryEng. C Ogut MemberEng. G. Njorohio MemberEng. P Okaka Member

FUNCTIONS COMMITTEEEng. D.M Wanjau Chairman

JOURNAL COMMITTEE A A McCorkindale ChairmanF W Ngokonyo Vice-ChairmanN O Booker MemberJ N Kariuki MemberProf M Kashorda MemberS M Ngare MemberAllan Muhalia MemberA W Otsieno MemberS K Kibe MemberM Majiwa Member J Kimani Member

WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENTEng. R Kosgei ChairmanEng. D M Wanjau MemberEng. J Riungu MemberEng. A Kosgei Member

INDUSTRIALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENTEng. H.S Amaje ChairmanEng. M.E .Okonji Vice Chair

POSITION NAMEChairman Eng. D M Wanjau-Maina1st Vice Chairman Eng. J M Riungu2nd Vice Chairman Eng. R K KosgeiHon. Secretary Eng. M ShiribwaHon. Treasurer Eng. R K ChepkwonyMember Eng. H J Nyaanga Member Eng. W R Okubo OGWMember Eng. R Kung’uMember Eng. M E OkonjiMember Eng. H S AmajeMember Eng. J K Mutai EBSRetiring Past Chairman Eng. F W NgokonyoChairman Mombasa Branch Eng. Z AnganyaVice Chairman Mombasa Branch Eng. M OwuorBranch Sec/ Treasurer Mombasa Branch Eng. J O OdumbeChairman Western Branch Eng. P M WambuaVice Chairman Western Branch Eng. S K MahanuBranch Sec/Treasurer Western Kenya Eng. I Chebii

MEMBERS OF IEK COMMITTEES IEK COUNCIL


NEWS

NEWS


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Kenya Engineer Journal, March-April 2012

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