i’ve been checking out this page… http://www.megaprojects.co.ke…they have a great instagram account following the progress of the SGR…now looking at the photos it seems like they are laying the tracks manually ( By hand) …why havent they employed advanced automation like this
I hear that argument alot…Ohhh if we automate the youth won’t get jobs…that’s what they said about computers, the internet , mobile phones, ATMs etc etc…it’s will make much more economic sense to use cutting edge technology which is cheaper and finish the project in had the time…the country benefits from the railway sooner…that to employ a few more youths and have them did trenches and shovel stuff around and pay them 300 bob a day
Yall need to understand he population of kenya, the skilled vs Unskilled population youth. If they employ a fully mechanised process its only pple like me who will work there as engineers. Thats y kamwana wanted to introduce laptops to kids as to give them an edge, youtube has tought me alot and some stuff cnt be covered in class.Educate your pple then start talking about mechanization.
With the big pace they are covering manually, the date of completion was brought to June 2017 from june 2018… Its amazing the work done in just 6 months so let Kenyans get employment though temporary.
For academics sake…lets say with using the latest technology available the work could be finished in half the time ie 2 years instead of the four and with 3/4 of the budget…and then you calculate the opportunity costs lost with having the wide ranging Benefits of the the SGR 2 years VISAVIS the Benefits of keeping a few hundred “youth” in employment for four years…in fact most of the workers are skillked not unskilled ie drivers, heavy equipment operators , masons , carpenters,builders, electricians, painters etc …even with automation these people would still have been needed
The actual laying of the sleepers constitutes a very small percentage of the total work, meaning that not much will be gained in terms of project completion time.
3.A manual process over which you have mastery is more cost effective than an automated process that you have not mastered fully.
The machines can be expensive yes…but with global players like China Road and Bridge Lazma wakuwe na those kind of equipment it’s not the Kenya Gvt that’s buying …they can also be hired…more than 500km of track constitutes a very big percentage of the actual work kwanza in tough terrain …the rest is the stations, signalling, rolling stock, workshop etc
I am saddened by your thought process. There is something called multiply effect once such a process is in place that’s why we have a Nairobi now coz of the first rail.
You dnt do okay with labourers and you need to check the definitions of skilled and unskilled before you call a driver skilled.
Bull dozer, tractor, compactor, lorry, grader , crane drivers are definitely skilled labourers…they have gone gone through training and have years of experience on theirs skills…it’s blue collar work but it’s still skilled labour
Allow me to be blunt…that unemployed youth will become desperate and him and his pals will way lay you and your so called
educated pals rape and steal from
you…the flip side…the temp jobs will keep them busy by evening they are tired and all they want is a warm meal which they can afford and a good night sleep…so which youth do you prefer?
Instead of the youth being given work to dig trenches and shovel stuff for a few coins…I’d rather they be engaged effectively by training them to use this new fancy machinery and operating those rigs and cranes and dozers…which even after the railway is done…they can ply their new skills elsewhere…after the kibarua of digging trenches is over then what next…they will still come and mug you