A girder bridge, one of its kind in Africa has now been completed in Kilifi County in am event about to make history.
The bridge was constructed at a cost of Sh.2.3 billion in Baricho area in Malindi sub-county of Kilifi county.
The Unique bridge according to Kenyan top Engineers will give a leeway to the construction of similar bridges in the country to increase connectivity across waterways.
Baricho bridge is reportedly the first one to be designed by local engineers and built by China Railway no 10 Engineering group limited a Chinese company.
So far, the Girder box which in the layman language is the main bridge across the River Galana is 95 percent complete and the contractor revealed that once the equipment is availed it would take them up to the end of March to complete the remaining works.
Journalists together with Kenya rural Roads Authority Engineers led by Chairman Prof Ouko Mbeche and engineering students toured the bridge last night to oversee the final phase of completion of the last segment box girder which is the main bridge.
Li Jieyang the commercial Manager of China Railway Number 109 Engineering group limited said the work was to be done under minimal temperatures and it was recommended they do it from 10 pm when temperatures were relatively low.
In an interview, the KERRA Chairman said they came to witness the completion of the last section of the extension of the bridge which is the first of its kind of the sort of design being done.
He said Kenya has had bridges that had been done in the 50s some of which ended up being disastrous after collapsing because of environmental challenges because people till the land along the rivers.
“You can see this bridge is being built from the middle of the river, it is the first of its kind in this country and it’s a design which is done by our local engineers who is Otieno Odongo and partners,” he said.
Mbeche said the success of the project is clear proof that those things can be done here in the country with the help of equipment from Chinese contractors.
He said KERRA was about connectivity as they were looking at critical areas not just about tarmacking roads but the points such as river crossing.
The Chairman said it was wrong to tarmac roads and yet people cannot cross the river adding that their mission is to ensure they build connecting points in rivers and then extend with tarmac roads.
“For example what happened in Ukambani recently, there is no point tarmacking the road then you have a drift and then people die so we want those areas, particularly in our rivers where the connection is important where drainages are rivers, are where culverts should be put so that people can cross on,” he said.
Mbeche said many lives have been lost in the country because of the lack of proper crossing bridges each year which was unfortunate.
He said those rivers must have crossings first before roads are done.
On the construction going on Mbeere said it was a good structure and expect it to be finished by March this year and confirmed that the bridge was in perfect shape.
“I think engineers here will tell you that this bridge here is larger than the Mtwapa bridge, it’s a bigger structure than that,” he said.
Jieyang on his part said they were celebrating a special time for completion of the last segment of the box girder.
To him the bridge was would be so beneficial to the local community who will no longer cross the river by foot of canoes.
“From this bridge we have trained a lot of Kenyan engineers and have brought so many Chinese technologies and equipment at the site,” he said.
Jieyang however revealed that they still have so many difficulties as the government is yet to pay them some of the remaining amounts that would help them complete the project,
However, he said they have agreed as a company to get a loan so as to finish the remaining works by March
“Now only for the bridge is 95 percent complete, what is remaining is processing beam of the bridge which if the machine comes soon, we shall finish around the end of march,” he said.
Jieyang said the bridge was constituted by 15 segments and they were doing the last segment for completion of the box girder.
He said the technology was the first time to be used in Kenya for the bridge adding that KERRA brought students of engineering to learn about the steps of building the bridge.
The manager said once complete and as per the technology used the bridge will last for more than 100 years.
He said the Bridge was delayed because the design was British standards but they had to redesign it a process that took almost one year to negotiate with the client and consultant team.
“That’s why this bridge took almost three and a half years If it was the normal process, it would have taken us almost one and a half years to complete,” he said.
Currently, he said the government owes them over 400 million but hopes to get the necessary assistance from the government.
Since they started work, he said the bridge has employed over 500 workers from the local community but they reduced the numbers because they were only handling the box bridge.
Eng Sammy Tangus Resident Engineer working with Otieno Odongo and partners consulting engineers said the Bridge was 241 meters long which started in July 2018.
Currently, he said they are slightly over 80 percent complete but for the bridge itself they were over 90 percent complete.
