Dickens Wasonga.
The lake side city of Kisumu finally has good news.
In most occasions what is churned out of the city home to over a half a million people has just been negative stuff.
Usually it is the violence related stories or bad politics that we associate our beautiful town with.
Things however are set to change and so is the image of Kisumu which is the headquarters of Kisumu county.Now it is celebrating a successful completion of an international airport which is set to transform the region into a travel hub, south and east of Africa.
Three years ago, the Kenya government in collaboration with the World Bank set out on a journey to upgrade the facility at a cost of sh.3b.
After a competitive bidding and rigorous search for a contractor , the airport project was awarded to the multinational Chinese Overseas Construction Engineering company COVEC whose proven competence in delivering timely , cost effective and magnificent projects earned itself international recognition.
With its newly acquired status, Kisumu International Airport which is the third busiest airport facility after Moi International Airport in Mombasa will now be able to handle direct flights within Africa, Europe and even Asia.
The upgraded project whose implementation was done by COVEC under the able leadership of Mr. Yang Liuyin ,the Project Manager will boost economic en devours between Kenya and countries within the great lakes region including the southern Sudan.
The Chinese experts used their professional acumen to give their clients KAA a product worth the amount the government invested into the project and residents of Nyanza are already preparing to make good use of the modern facility by transforming it into an income generating venture.
At the greater Nyakach and the fertile farmlands of Nyando, horticultural farmers have already put under cultivation several acres of land in the wake of the good news about the completion of the airport.
Business in the town has been boosted with many private and public entities such the Kenya Wild Life Service, Kenya tourist board, Kisumu city council and numerous hotels operating in the region embarking on aggressive marketing campaigns to popularize the Western Kenya tourist circuit where the new airport is located.
The good work carried out by the COVEC team and a group of experienced engineers from KAA and the NACO consultants which ultimately saw Kisumu realize the ambition of both the government and the people of Western Kenya in having an international airport can not be underestimated.
The Chinese work ethics where skills is combined with serious dedication to handwork and good behavior truly demonstrated that the country was getting a brake from a past which was synonymous with shoddy and uncompleted jobs.
Such projects which remained white elephants after gobbling up hard earned public funds gave the government’s poorly implemented and supervised works a blot. This is what COVEC and its team worked tirelessly to disapprove.
When the project began , there was a lot of resistance especially from a section of the community who felt they would lose their land to the airport project but those fears were soon addressed by a competent KAA management and the project implementing teams.
Constant consultation and continuous dialogue gave a boost to the project and found favor with the locals with all the affected families receiving money as land compensation from the government.
The same spirit of working in harmony was soon to be adopted by the Chinese workers who gave themselves total commitment to deliver the project timely and at the same time ensuring quality of work was never compromised.
COVEC which floored giant and equally reputable organizations both locally and internationally in the the road and airport construction circles however did not disappoint.
Before it was awarded the Kisumu airport project, the company which is an affiliate of China Railways Cooperation had been implementing a number of successfully delivered projects within the African continent such as in Angola, Morocco,Botswana, Mauritias, Zambia,Mali amongst others .
In Botswana, for example, COVEC implemented a housing project for over 424 affordable housing units which was financed through a concessional loan provided by the Chinese government.
In 2006 in Angola, the reputable company completed a US dollar 8 million hospital project in a record 15 months.
The Luanda General Hospital project built a facility which could hospitalize 100 patients and handle 800 daily.
While implementing the Kisumu airport project and several others mentioned above , COVEC had already curved out for itself a prominent place in the sector once dominated by the South African and European firms.
During the project period, the Chinese reconstructed the dilapidated 2 kilometers by 30 meters runway to an ultra modern 3.3 kilometers by 45 meters runway which now can bigger aircraft than was being handled before.
They also constructed a state of the art two floors terminal building and other associated works like air field ground lighting, sewerage systems, air side access roads, a unique and high security fence amongst others.
Other services includes a dedicated 4 inch pipe water from Kisumu water and sewerage company (KIWASCO) and dedicated power services from Kenya Power Lighting Company .
An access road from the Kisat junction to Kisian has also been constructed.
The implementation of the project was a boost to the locals many of whom were and still are employed at the project either as skilled or non skilled staff by COVEC and their sub contractors.
The locals some of whom were non skilled benefited immensely .They worked hand in hand with the Chinese technicians who in turn were able to impart knowledge in them.
Many were able to acquire expertise in areas such as usage of modern equipment, tools and techniques especially in building construction.
ENDS.