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Who desighned Thika super highway?
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bkismat
#11 Posted : Friday, October 11, 2013 10:15:05 AM
Rank: Elder

Joined: 10/23/2009
Posts: 2,375
a4architect.com wrote:
Chaka wrote:
a4architect.com wrote:
@chaka, its not the kenyan engineers who designed the road. its an indian engineering consultancy firm.
For kenyan engineers to alter the design, the contract btn kenya and the indian engineers need to be altered.

@4Arch,
What you are saying is that for these kinds of projects the "client: i.e Kenya Government cannot make any recommendations before project rollout?


the client i.e Kenya is represented by ps ministry of roads. His office should have seen this and pointed out to the consultants to amend design but it looks like the design phase was not properly taken care of. The experience of the engineering consultancy should be able toiron out these issues. Looks like the vetting process for consultancy didnt get the best engineers. The indians maybe did not have experience with such projects. The chinese contractors, hovewer, did a perfect job .

The reason kenya was using international consultants is coz we dont have engineers with such experience so we cnt fault ps ministry of roads for not seeing this. We can fault the selection process since they should have given us engineers with previous experience on such roads.

@a4arch who were the consultant? All my searches show mostly the Chinese Contractors but are silent on the Consultants.
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt...
-Mark Twain
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a4architect.com
#12 Posted : Friday, October 11, 2013 10:18:11 AM
Rank: Veteran

Joined: 1/4/2010
Posts: 1,668
Location: nairobi
such road solutions are only found through competitive design bidding where several people are give an chance to show case their solutions to the client i.e kenya then the best design wins.

Competitive designs should be embraced in roads and buildings in kenya for us to enjoy unique and well thought out designs. Unfortunately, most high level designs are usually done thru under table dealings.




http://www.vam.ac.uk/cha...ect_competition_winner/

http://marhaba.com.qa/ka...d-signs-design-contest/

http://archinect.com/for...hitecture-and-aesthetics
As Iron Sharpens Iron, So one Man Sharpens Another.
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  | | Edit by user: Friday, October 11, 2013 10:19 AM | Reason: Not specified
newcomer
#13 Posted : Sunday, October 13, 2013 3:40:07 PM
Rank: Member

Joined: 3/22/2008
Posts: 88
I attended the Embu investors conference at Izaak walton inn and was impressed with the county's plan for roads. The Governor has contracted a kenyan Engineering firm to to come up with a proposal of a model design for future Embu roads. He says the road designs in kenya are based on western and China road models which are very expensive, currently at Ksh.60m per Km. He says by borrowing from Malaysia, Brazil and India, we shall be able to reduce the cost by as much as 2/3. He explained that within 10 years, all the 6 key roads in Embu will be done and urges the doubting Thomases to wait and seen what the county management will do. It sounded so good, but I am not sure whether I ma not one of the doubting thomases
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a4architect.com
#14 Posted : Monday, October 14, 2013 9:24:47 AM
Rank: Veteran

Joined: 1/4/2010
Posts: 1,668
Location: nairobi
bkismat wrote:
a4architect.com wrote:
Chaka wrote:
a4architect.com wrote:
@chaka, its not the kenyan engineers who designed the road. its an indian engineering consultancy firm.
For kenyan engineers to alter the design, the contract btn kenya and the indian engineers need to be altered.

@4Arch,
What you are saying is that for these kinds of projects the "client: i.e Kenya Government cannot make any recommendations before project rollout?


the client i.e Kenya is represented by ps ministry of roads. His office should have seen this and pointed out to the consultants to amend design but it looks like the design phase was not properly taken care of. The experience of the engineering consultancy should be able toiron out these issues. Looks like the vetting process for consultancy didnt get the best engineers. The indians maybe did not have experience with such projects. The chinese contractors, hovewer, did a perfect job .

The reason kenya was using international consultants is coz we dont have engineers with such experience so we cnt fault ps ministry of roads for not seeing this. We can fault the selection process since they should have given us engineers with previous experience on such roads.

@a4arch who were the consultant? All my searches show mostly the Chinese Contractors but are silent on the Consultants.



@bkismat..the consultants are from India. I cant remember the name but i have seen their contract documents.
As Iron Sharpens Iron, So one Man Sharpens Another.
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jguru
#15 Posted : Monday, October 14, 2013 12:07:42 PM
Rank: Veteran

Joined: 10/25/2007
Posts: 1,574
a4architect.com wrote:
@bkismat..the consultants are from India. I cant remember the name but i have seen their contract documents.


@A4A, the consultants were a mhindi company called Apec Consortium Ltd.

Their website is: www.apecltd.co.ke.
Set out to correct the world's wrongs and you will most certainly wind up adding to them.
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a4architect.com
#16 Posted : Monday, October 14, 2013 12:50:02 PM
Rank: Veteran

Joined: 1/4/2010
Posts: 1,668
Location: nairobi
jguru wrote:
a4architect.com wrote:
@bkismat..the consultants are from India. I cant remember the name but i have seen their contract documents.


@A4A, the consultants were a mhindi company called Apec Consortium Ltd.

Their website is: www.apecltd.co.ke.


@jguru, thanks. it looks like they are local and not from india.

Quote:
APEC LTD. Consulting Engineers was founded in 1995 and incorporated under the laws of Kenya in 1996. In 2002 a sister company, APEC Consortium Ltd was incorporated under the same directorship in order to serve its clientele with a greater degree of flexibility. For the 10 years that the firm has been in existence, it has been involved in works of multidisciplinary nature funded by various Development Agencies, Governments and private sector.
As Iron Sharpens Iron, So one Man Sharpens Another.
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bkismat
#17 Posted : Monday, October 14, 2013 12:54:32 PM
Rank: Elder

Joined: 10/23/2009
Posts: 2,375
a4architect.com wrote:
jguru wrote:
a4architect.com wrote:
@bkismat..the consultants are from India. I cant remember the name but i have seen their contract documents.


@A4A, the consultants were a mhindi company called Apec Consortium Ltd.

Their website is: www.apecltd.co.ke.


@jguru, thanks. it looks like they are local and not from india.

Quote:
APEC LTD. Consulting Engineers was founded in 1995 and incorporated under the laws of Kenya in 1996. In 2002 a sister company, APEC Consortium Ltd was incorporated under the same directorship in order to serve its clientele with a greater degree of flexibility. For the 10 years that the firm has been in existence, it has been involved in works of multidisciplinary nature funded by various Development Agencies, Governments and private sector.

Looks like a Joint Venture, APEC local and CES Indian.
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt...
-Mark Twain
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african coloner
#18 Posted : Monday, October 14, 2013 4:03:10 PM
Rank: Member

Joined: 10/8/2010
Posts: 446
Location: london
a4architect.com wrote:
@chaka, its not the kenyan engineers who designed the road. its an indian engineering consultancy firm.
For kenyan engineers to alter the design, the contract btn kenya and the indian engineers need to be altered.


4 architect, dont you think you should raise this concern with relevant authorities since you are an engineer yourself and also the health hazard this road is to the users?
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mukiha
#19 Posted : Monday, October 14, 2013 4:14:50 PM
Rank: Elder

Joined: 6/27/2008
Posts: 4,114
Chaka wrote:
Does this imply that engineers at the roads ministry don't drive?..otherwise they should have noted these shortcomings..


Kenyan roads engineers/designers do not drive, nor do they walk. They are chauffeur-driven [back-left]!

That's why you find such silly mistakes as enumerated above.
Nothing is real unless it can be named; nothing has value unless it can be sold; money is worthless unless you spend it.
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a4architect.com
#20 Posted : Monday, October 14, 2013 4:49:00 PM
Rank: Veteran

Joined: 1/4/2010
Posts: 1,668
Location: nairobi
african coloner wrote:
a4architect.com wrote:
@chaka, its not the kenyan engineers who designed the road. its an indian engineering consultancy firm.
For kenyan engineers to alter the design, the contract btn kenya and the indian engineers need to be altered.


4 architect, dont you think you should raise this concern with relevant authorities since you are an engineer yourself and also the health hazard this road is to the users?


the solution lies in opening up road designs competitions where architects can also participate in the traffic flow and aesthetics part in a consortium with road engineers.

Kenyan law would need to be changed for this to happen. Currently, road design is done under cap 530 kenyan law by the road engineers.

Road consultancy procurement is done under PPOA laws which do not expressly instruct for competitive designs. They mostly check number of staff, number of years, cash flow, education level etc but not design.

Unless Govt Ministry of roads has a portal like wazua for us to give them suggestions,from the comfort of our offices, i think physically proposing such radical changes , knowing how kenya works, is a futile attempt .

The other day i saw @ukenyatta unveiling national transport board. Here there are people i believe who can genuinely assist in this especially Advocate Charles Kanjama and Rita Kavashe, who are well accomplished in the private sector.
These to me signify hope and new change in the way things will run.
http://www.ntsa.go.ke/in...amp;id=85&Itemid=487
As Iron Sharpens Iron, So one Man Sharpens Another.
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  | | Edit by user: Monday, October 14, 2013 4:55 PM | Reason: Not specified
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