CAPACITY TO BUILD AFRICAN CITIES

The just concluded PMI Africa Conference gave me an opportunity to visit the city of Dar es Salaam. With the conference theme, Change made possible by a Project Manager, as my backdrop, I got to reflect on the growth potential of the continent. I also got to reflect on African leadership and the impact it has on how fast, or how slowly, that growth can happen. As I walked around the city and observed the organised way the ongoing construction was being conducted. President Magufuli, being an engineer, is a stickler for straight lines with low tolerance for bad quality work. The general chaos that is typical of construction sites was markedly absent and everything was kept in its place. Such meticulous approach to work obviously means a steadier pace. I contrasted that with the construction in Nairobi whose skyline is now dotted by cranes with construction sites literally building on top of each other, and the Chinese contractors running flood lit 24-hour operations.

I was also impressed by the functioning Bus Rapid Transit system (BRT) and the obvious effect of decongesting the city. The wide promenades and absence of traffic jams made walking around the city a great joy. With the rapidly growing population of the city, the government began to draw plans for a rapid transit system in 2003. The government predicted the city population to grow over 5 million by 2015 and invited the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to design a master plan for transport in the city in June 2008. Construction of the first phase began in April 2012 and was completed in December 2015 by Strabag international GmbH.

Now with Africa’s population projected to reach 2.5B by 2050 we shall need many Dar es Salaams, Nairobis, Lagos…. built quickly yet efficiently. Though the biggest challenge now is how to fund this infrastructure, skills and capacity is going to be the next biggest bottleneck standing in the way of this growth. Africa will need to build up its local capacity rapidly, ensuring the current pool of engineers, architects, quantity surveyors, project managers, etc, get exposed to large projects, embrace modern techniques and technology and equip themselves with new knowledge. The curriculum being used to develop the next generation of professionals must ready itself for an explosion in skills needs.

Howard Aidevo is a team of experts that supports clients in achieving their infrastructure development dream. We are passionate about successful delivery of our clients’ projects and ensure they are implemented effortlessly. We serve our clients through project management advisory services and skills development support. Since November 2017 our training arm, BCDIP (Building Capacity for Developing Infrastructure Projects), has trained professionals involved in infrastructure development including engineers, lawyers, quantity surveyors, economists, architects, project managers, amongst others. 

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