Preliminary Session
Master of Ceremonies: Eng. M. Shiribwa
He welcomed the Federation of Africa Engineers Organizations president, Martin V., engineers from
South Africa and Namibia, engineers from for Uganda in absentia, senior engineers and member of the
IEK, delegates and all participants to the conference.
Welcome Address (Eng. D. M. Wanjau-Maina)
He welcomed all the delegates and participants of the conference. He mentioned that engineering
should be knowledge-based and technologically intensive. He added that 43% of the world’s population
form the source of technology. With globalization and its challenges we as engineers need to find ways
of applying technology to develop counties.
Speech: J. M. Riungu
He welcomed the chief guest. He expressed gratitude to delegates for enrolling for the conference and
mentioned that exhibitors were available.
Chief Guest’s Speech: Humphrey O. Nakitare, Kisumu County Secretary
Humphrey O. was representing HE Jack Ranguma, the governor of Kisumu County, who was not able to
attend the conference. He welcomed the IEK and conference members to Kisumu and was grateful for
the fact that this was the first time the conference was being held Kisumu.. He mentioned that the new
constitution had created expectation of the county government, which can only meet these needs with
help from engineers. He indicated that Kisumu would like innovation to boost sugar and fishing,
together with key areas transport, flooding, power infrastructure and employment.
Vote of Thanks: Eng. R. Kosgei
He thanked the chief guest for his attendance. He also thanked the previous chair of IEK for initialization
and conception of this conference in Kisumu. He finally thanked members of the IEK committee for
planning and the delegates and media for attendance.
Session I: Industrialization
1.0
Engineers progress key to sustaining development in Africa (J. K. Kiplagat, I. Chebii)
Africa has a vicious cycle of poor infrastructure causing unemployment leading to low income and other
ills that contribute to overall lack of infrastructure. Enhanced research can reduce this. Nanotechnology
is a possible avenue to sustained industrialization, due to its ability for miniaturization and its wide
application base.
1.1
Industrialization of counties and Vision 2030 (F. J. Gichaga)
There is a need to transform Kenya’s economy from an agricultural economy to a manufacturing
economy. Engineers can affect industry by producing relevant technology through research and publicprivate-cooperation. County development has four key players: universities, industry, government and
the IEK. Their working in harmony will pave the way for Kenya to become a middle-income industrial
economy.
1.2
Impact of Bio-Oil in rural energy requirements (Eng. G. Muchiri)
National wealth is directly related to energy consumption. For Kenya to become a middle-income
industrialized nation it needs to increase its energy production and consumption. Oil imports cost Kenya
more than half of its total annual revenue. Africa has the highest potential of bio-energy in the world. If
Kenya reduced energy consumption through traditional methods and adopted bio-fuels there would be
increased potential for energy self-reliance. This is possible through non-edible bio-oils such as Castor
that can be grown anywhere in the country for energy production.
1.3
Outsourcing Strategy in County Government Industrialization: Case Study of KPLC Ltd (Eng. D.
Kiniti)
Engineering manages resources so that they are handled in a better way. A major key to this resource
efficiency is outsourcing. KPLC has used outsourcing to meet its targets set by the government in areas
of power line construction. KPLC proposes this strategy in providing information access throughout
counties using fibre connectivity.
1.4
Role of nuclear energy for Kenya’s Development Strategy (Eng. C. Juma)
As of 2012 nuclear power accounted for 5.7% of the world’s energy and 13% of electricity. Uptake of
nuclear power is growing following the guidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
which uses an infrastructure milestone system to develop and ensure proper safety measures. In 2030
Kenya hopes to produce 4000 MW of nuclear energy. The main challenges of nuclear energy are safety
and waste disposal. Kenya is partnering with S. Korea and the United States for personnel training and
safety regimes.
Session II: Governance and Education
2.1
IEK Dispute Resolution, Rules and Procedures for appointment of Arbitrators and Adjudicators
(Eng. O. Rogo)
Many projects collapse when there is a dispute between engineers and management. There is an urgent
need to update training, practice, ethics and dispute resolution. This forms a vital responsibility of the
IEK. IEK is key to appoint adjudicators and mediators since these individuals must have intimate
knowledge of the field. Furthermore, stakeholders should specify contracts to IEK as the appointer.
Disciplinary rules and procedures should conform to the Engineers’ Board Act and all rules of Kenya.
There is also a need to cater for the devolved government structure, for instance counties can share
dispute resolution mechanisms.
2.2
Challenges of Manpower Development in Kenya with respect to the Implementation of the
Engineers’ Act 2011 (Eng. J. Riungu)
Regulation assures quality and enhances safety. The Engineers’ Act introduces stringent regulation,
mandatory continual development, promotes ethical practices, issues licenses to qualified personnel
and establishes a school of engineering to ensure competency of graduates. All this could pose
challenges to industry as well as to universities, especially as to whether they have sufficient
professional engineers. The solution is for academically qualified engineers to register and for
universities to fast-track university-industry linkage.
2.3
Engineering Education Challenges and Opportunities in Kenyatta University (Eng. M. Nzomo)
Kenyatta University School of Engineering and Technology (KUSET) was established in 2007 following the
restructuring of the School of Pure and Applied Sciences. It has core values of integrity, discipline and
hard work and has been highly geared towards quality, for instance through the acquisition of modern
equipment and setting up of high-tech labs. KUSET is actively collaborating with industry and other
universities, both local and international. KUSET is also in support of regulation by the EBK as a way of
assuring quality.
2.5
Governance and Ethics for the Built and Natural Environment (Eng. R. Kosgei)
There are ethical challenges in preventing corruption. Corruption can be carried out at the following
stages: project conception, tender stage, project execution and the payment stage. Our role as
professionals is to prevent corruption and this can be done by addressing ethics. This can be done by
encouraging early ethical training, playing advisory roles, introducing penalties and random project
audits. APSEA and EACC can introduce processes of determining levels of corruption amongst
professionals.
Session III: Production and Irrigation
3.1
Managing Risk of Climate Change in Agricultural Production (Eng. M. Shiribwa)
Agricultural production depends on the environment and this is affected by factors such as climate, food
demand and population growth. Climate can have drastic effects and there is a need for adaptation
measures to be put in place, both intrinsic and extrinsic. Barriers to adaptation change include land
constraints, poor climate change information delivery, cost of farm inputs and irrigation facilities, credit,
income and labour constraints. Techniques to mitigate this include Conservation Agriculture (CA),
integrating modern agricultural techniques to improve production, developing buffer areas and
strengthen research to generate climate resilient technology.
3.2
Adapting System of Rice Intensification (SRI) In Western Kenya Irrigation Schemes (Eng. C
Kipkorir)
System of Rice Intensification (SRI) entails a combination of techniques and methods used in rice
irrigation schemes to increase yield. Some of these include use of organic manure, use of younger
seedlings (10-12 days), reduction in nursery area, alternate wetting and drying, square planting and
wider spacing. Field tests have been conducted in Ahero and Western Kano and the results show a clear
yield increase and water saving. They also show a reduction in the emission of green house gases. Some
challenges in adapting the method include resistance to change and difficulties in transporting younger
seedlings.
3.3
Diesel Powered Defense Technology Mobile Field Kitchen DMFK (Lt. Col. M. Muhu)
One of the efforts of the Ministry of State and Defense (MOSD) is the Environmental Soldier Program
(ESP). Given that the extensive use of firewood negates afforestation efforts, the KDF solution has been
the DMFK, which operates on diesel and is, therefore, smoke free and helps in mitigating deforestation.
The DMFK is environmentally friendly and has been used in the Embakasi Barracks and in Somalia
(AMISOM). It has also been commended by the AU. It has influenced other innovative work in the
MOSD. The future plans are to satisfy the military needs and also commercialize and provide the DMFK
to public and private institutions.
3.4
Address by Federation of African Engineering Organization president – FAEO (Martin Van W.)
Africa has numerous resources and these are facilitated by engineers. The engineers may be called to
work all over Africa. A challenge is that the engineering bodies of various countries are not harmonized
among themselves and, therefore, the criteria for registration may not be standard. FAEO is seeking to
have a universal engineer registration process.
3.5
Innovative Engineering for Sustainable Development (Prof. H. Kaane)
There is a need to redefine engineering in order to capture innovation. Universities ought to take this
into account in the training of their students. The production cycle ought to be shortened and
infrastructure needs to be enhanced. These are engineering roles. Sustained development must be
competitive, accompanied by high productivity and sustained consumption. Aspects like reverse
engineering can play a role in development and innovation since innovation necessitates a full
understanding of the technology.
DAY TWO
Session IV Transportation and Infrastructure
4.0
Industry and Vision 2030 (Permanent Sec. C Njiru)
The presenter expressed his to the senior engineering fraternity for their time and patience in urutring
younger engineers. He stated that engineering is a continuing discipline that requires high quality
training.
With respect to Vision 2030, the presenter stated that engineers must always reflect on the challenges
of our times (the overall big picture) to reach the desired future goals. This in line with Vision 2030
desiring Kenya to be a middle income industrialised economy. This can only be done by creating
communication channels with colleagues and continued training.
4.2
Cable Car Systems for Urban Technology (E Mwarania)
Cable car technology is an aerial transport method apt for short distances. It has been tested and proven
in more adverse environmental and climatic conditions than urban regions. The presenter proposes to
adopt this transport system for use in Likoni crossing to ease congestion on the conventional crossing
means. It would also provide other new benefits to the region with job creation and energy savings
paramount among them.
4.3
Infrastructure Way leaves, Reserves and Corridors (S Munubi and H Ndung'u)
KETRACO is a state cooperation that has been mandated by the government to expand the transmission
grid from 3300km by adding an additional 8316km. This is in line with plans to increase energy
production in the country from 1025MW to 15065MW in 2030.
To this end, there is a need to determine way leaves, corridors and pathways to accommodate this
infrastructure. Issues such as land acquisition, contention and encroachment once these corridors are
found arise. These issues need to be addressed and were brought forward by the presenter.
Session V - Research
5.0
Pipe Jacking (Representatives from SBI Holdings)
Pipe jacking is a technique of deploying massive piping systems that is an alternate to using pipe and box
culverts. It involves pushing pipe through the desired region rather than excavating the area and
backfilling it afterwards.
It is applicable in all known situations, time and cost effective and environmentally friendly on the
landscape.
5.1
Haar Wavelets Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) using Optical Chi-Squared Rician Filters for
Visual Interpretration (K Kagoiya)
MRI uses the principle of magnetism to generate signals representing the desired data to be interpreted
as medical conditions. Noise in these signals tends to be signal dependent and it follows a Rician
distribution.
The presenter stated his proposed filtering system is an improvement over conventional techniques. His
design involves transformation of the signal dependent noise to an additive equivalent. A bilateral filter
and wavelet theory are then used to denoise the image.
5.2
Concrete for Use In Sustainable Development (O Koteng, presented by S Mumenya)
Traditional concrete practices have numerous shortcomings. The paper proposes new techniques of
concrete development and their advantages over current methods.
5.3
Design for Strength and Durability (S Mumenya)
In concrete structures, strength of structures is a parameter that is easy to achieve. Durability on the
other hand (where quality assurance and material lifetime come into play) is more difficult. Lack of
durability arises primarily from corrosion.
The presenter reported that South Africa uses a durability index test that considers permeability,
sorpitivity and conductivity as indicators of durability. The presenter underscored that engineers in the
country need to adopt a similar measure to assure quality of concrete structures and she is currently
working with others in this area.
5.4
Development, Improvement and Expansion of the Construction Industry - NCA Mandate (D O
Manduku)
Construction of infrastructure is a key pillar in Vision 2030 yet it has been hampered with a weak
framework, lack of ethics and poor overall coordination.
The NCA has come in . It has an act that reigns in the construction industry and its contractors through
regulation and codes of conduct that must be followed. Though there has been some initial resistance,
the NCA is working with other organizational bodies to help generate acceptable rules of practice. The
IEK is a strategic partner since it oversees a large chunk of construction in Kenya.
Secion VI - Adaptive Technologies and Innovative Design
6.1
Adaptive Technology For Non-Revenue Water Management Case Study for Nairobi City Water
and Sewerage Company (NCWSC): Business Case for Piloting Automatic Meter Reader Solutions for
Bulk Consumers (M Kiemo)
The NCWSC incurs two main types of losses - commercial and maintenance. Furthermore, commercial
losses are due to either technical challenges such as clogging or faulty equipment or operational
challenges from the human element.
Regardless of these problems, the NCWSC is duty and legally bound to provide services to its paying
customers.
The potentially solve commercial losses, the presenter proposes the adoption of automatic meter
reading (AMR). This yields efficient implementation, reduced operational cost and better access to
statistical data for predictive analysis.
6.2
Forecasts on Research in Design Theory and Methodology and its Impact On Product Design
and Engineering Education (I Odira)
Design is the actual creation of products. Its tenets are innovation, socio-technical aspects and ICT.
There needs to be a focus on improving design practice. This is because industrial sustainability hinges
on the fact that new products must be developed regularly. And so design practitioners must be willing
anticipate dramatic changes in engineering design in order to stay relevsant.
6.3
Innovative Design of a 100 Storey RC Skyscraper using Modern Techniques: Al Shahed Tower
(Eng. A Khan)
The Al Shahed tower designed in 2008 had a design criteria that was a challenge to meet if structural
viability and commercial feasibility were to be attained. The paper presented shows the pre-design and
model testing using modern computer modelling techniques. The preliminary results generated were in
line with predicted notions and most of the design criteria were in line with nternation standards.
This shows that modern techniques are indispensible in coming up with innovative solutions.
6.4
Place of Electricity GIS and Smart Grid in Devolving Services in Kenya (S Mwangi)
In the electricity distribution field, issues of vandalism and high cost arise. Theses along with other
drawbacks are hampering the devolution of electrical services at the county level.
The presenter proposes the adoption of a smart grid system that would provide information that may be
use for predictive modeling of required overall generation load, determine the load distribution of
individual areas and plan for deployment of electrical services in new areas. This would go a long way in
devolution of electrical services.
Section VII - Building Materials
7.1
Use of Molten Plastics in Developing Alternative Building Materials (B W Sabuni)
Plastics are a sources of solid, non bio-degradable waste. The work presented was done to determine if
creating a plastic quarry dust mix was suitable for recycled use as building block material.
7.2
Investigating the Use of Construction Chemicals in Improving Construction Project
Management in Kenya (C Legeto)
The presenter stated that excess time and cost is being experienced in the field of construction. Project
management involves optimising resources to achieve the best possible end result. Construction
chemicals were analysed to see if they should indeed boost time and cost savings and proposed as such.
7.3
Collapsing Building Structures in Kenya (Eng S Charagu)
Frequent building collapse causes unnecessary loss of life. The causes range from poor supervision, poor
materials and lack of maintainence, design flaws, no records of approval of works at each stage among
others.
The presenter proposed some procedural suggestions were made such as design confirmation and
testing of materials. This would help improve safety and add quality control in building construction.
7.4
Urban infrastructure and mining (Eng. M. Kitaly)
With the rapid population and economic expansion of East Africa countries, there is a need to develop
infrastrutures to stimulate rural growth. The presenter explained how Canada has developed some
innovative fabricated solutions to develop its remote areas with significant population densities. These
solutions are also applicable in East Africa.
DAY 3
Presentations for Day 3 can be found in the CD for the conference provided.