China Road opens school to train builders of new railway

What you need to know:

The school will initially take in 200 students and also teach steel assembling, bricklaying and masonry, scaffolding, railway technology and safety as well as environment management.

China Road and Bridge Company (CRBC) has opened a school in Voi to train Kenyans on railway construction, operation and management.

The school, opened on Tuesday, will initially take in 200 students and also teach steel assembling, bricklaying and masonry, scaffolding, railway technology and safety as well as environment management.

It will offer a three-month course targeting engineers, technicians and artisans.

Speaking at the launch of the school at a ceremony in Voi, Han Feng, the standard gauge railway project deputy manager, said the institution will serve as a talent pool for both CRBC and Kenya.

More such centres will be set up at other project work sites, he said. The company plans to transfer technical skills to 1.6 per cent of the project workforce which will reduce to 1.3 per cent at the end of the venture.

Share technical skills

CRBC said in a statement that it had employed 12,000 people in the Sh327 billion railway project, adding that 65 per cent of its employees are from coastal counties and more than 20 per cent are women.

The jobs are expected to peak at 30,000 with 400 beneficiaries of the technology transfer.

CRBC said that some locals had already been trained on the production of railway building materials. This comes only weeks after CRBC conducted a competition for local employees to test their acquired skills from Chinese workers.

Each employee had been assigned to a Chinese mentor who would teach and share technical skills as railway construction progressed.

The railway is being build to match Chinese Class One standards – designed for robustness and low maintenance. The technology is planned to eventually cross over to other east African countries including Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.

Passenger trains will travel at a top speed of 120km per hour while freight trains will attain a maximum speed of 80km per hour. The railway is expected to create jobs, boost the economy and promote regional integration.