Rwanda is set to send its first batch of engineers to Kenya for skills development in rail construction ahead of works on the Rwanda section of standard gauge railway (SGR), according to an official at the Ministry of Infrastructure.

"The initial team is composed of ten engineers and these are expected to leave for Kenya at the beginning of July,” said Jules Ndenga, a senior engineer in charge of road and railway infrastructure at the Ministry of Infrastructure (MiniNfra).

Construction of the first section of the SGR, from Mombasa to Nairobi, started in January this year and the second phase, from Nairobi to Kisumu, at the shower of Lake Victoria, will start in the 2015/2016 fiscal year, according to Kenyan government sources.

The works on the segment joining Uganda and Rwanda is only expected to start within two years from now and the government says it has embarked on a capacity building programme to prepare local engineers to take up major technical positions when construction begins.

"We want to avoid a situation where foreign construction firms working on the railway reach here and complain that there are no local skilled engineers and technicians,” said Ndenga.

During the previous summit on the progress of Northern Corridor Integration Projects initiative (NCIPI) in Entebbe, Uganda, it was agreed that Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan will each identify and second ten engineers, technicians and artisans to join the SGR works in Kenya.

Also during the Kampala summit, Kenya reportedly provided its counterparts with the work plans for the railway works running up to December 2017, which details the different stages and elements of the construction.

"The 10 engineers leaving next month will be directly involved in the technical works and details of railway construction and for four weeks, we expect them to get the required skills that will be needed when construction finally starts here,” the Ndenga said.

The engineers heading to Kenya are at different levels of qualification, including some that are university graduates.

"We need to have personnel at all levels, including engineers, technicians and artisans, each of them have different roles to play in Kenya, they will see exactly what is expected of them,” he added.

More to be trained

After the first batch, more Rwandans will be sent to Kenya in the months to come until a good number of technicians have acquired skills at all levels. Other Rwandans will be sent abroad, in such countries as India and China to get railway engineering skills.

The China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) is the firm that was contracted to construct the 472-kilometre rail from Mombasa to Nairobi.

However, because of limited coverage and use of railway transport in the region, there are few qualified local personnel, hence expatriates dominate the works.

But Fred Rwihunda, president of the Institute of Engineers Rwanda, believes this is not a big problem and says there’s enough to prepare Rwandan engineers for the railway works.

"Railway construction isn’t much different from road construction or general civil engineering works so once someone is already qualified as an engineer, it’s quite easy to pick up railway engineering skills,” said Rwihunda.

Studies on Kampala-Kigali segment of the SGR are currently ongoing and are expected to be finalised sometime this year. The construction cost of the SGR leg to Rwanda is estimated to be $1.2 billion.

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