The development agenda of Kenya risks being derailed due to overreliance on foreign expertise in huge infrastructure projects.
Although the East African nation has prioritised massive investments in infrastructure projects as the catalyst towards becoming a middle-level economy by 2030, shortage of professionals, particularly engineers, is raising concerns over the long term competitiveness of the Kenyan economy.
State institutions involved in the implementation of Vision 2030 flagship infrastructural projects are warning the alarming shortage of engineers is precipitating a crisis not only on the execution of projects but also on their maintenance.
Due to the biting shortage, Kenya has been forced to award contracts for all major projects to foreign companies, particularly Chinese entities.
The situation is even degenerating into desperation as State companies in the same sector like energy are forced to share the few qualified engineers.
Some, such as the Kenya Electricity Trans- mission Company (Ketraco) and the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) have transferred resources meant for projects to finance the training of engineers in spe- ciality areas.
“We are facing an acute shortage of engineers and this is a risk to the long-term devel- opment of the country. As Ketraco we have awarded all major projects to foreign compa- nies because we do not have the expertise locally,” Ketraco MD Joel Kiilu told Engineer- ing News.
He added that the shortage of engineers is forcing the country to lose billions of dollars that would have otherwise circulated in the Kenyan economy.
Despite being the leading economy in East Africa, Kenya is facing a severe deficit of engineers yet government, which is supposed to be spearheading more engineers has not been proactive.
Moreover, while the East African nation has about 50 public and private universities, they produce thousands of arts graduates annually and only a few hundreds in the fields of science and technology.
Engineers Registration Board chairperson Maina Wanjau says this is the root cause of the problem. “We are facing a serious shortage and yet universities do not feel obliged to train more engineers,” he said.
He added there are only 1 545 registered engineers in Kenya and 4 785 graduate engineers. Of this, 1 285 are registered professional engineers while 260 work as consultant engineers.
The number translates to 6 330 engineers serving a population of 40-million, far below the levels recommended by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation of a minimum ratio of one engineer to 2 000 people.
In Kenya, the ratio of engineers to the popu- lation stands at about 1:6 450 while only 700 new engineers are released to the market by universities annually. “It will be impossible to achieve Vision 2030 if government does not invest in the training of more engineers,” he observed, adding that dependence on foreigners will be counterproductive in the long run.
In 2010, former Higher Education Minister William Ruto ignited a furor after asserting that government will scale down financing of arts students in public universities and redirect the resources to science and technology students on the basis they would play a bigger role in the achievement of Vision 2030.
Although Kenya is undertaking multibillion investments in infrastructure projects in areas like energy, roads, airports, ports, railway and information and communication technology, the common denominator is that all are being implemented by foreign companies.
The recently commissioned $350-million Thika Super Highway is a case in point. The highway was constructed by three Chinese companies and engineers with Kenyans doing the manual works.
Other major projects like the $208-million expansion of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the $1,7-billion 280 MW Olkaria and geothermal project among others are all being implemented by foreign companies.
“If we do not train more engineers the big challenge will be on the maintenance of these expensive projects,” observes Kiilu.
To prevent the worsening of the problem, some companies are investing in training of engineers. Ketraco has, for instance, partnered with Indian company Power Grid Corporation to train young engineering graduates while KenGen is in partnership with Kenyatta University to train geothermal exploration engineers.