Good News For Kiambu Investors, Inhabitants

Kiambu County Government is planning to improve the infrastructure of this county by building and expanding its road network using new and improved technologies starting this Fiscal year.

Yesterday, Governor William Kabogo visited various construction projects in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on a fact finding mission. In the tour,  they saw road projects being done using a natural stabilizer from Israel which is very effective even on black cotton soils. Once stabilized, a final base is laid after which either bituminous sealant or cobble stone finish is placed.

In this technology by AnyWay Solid Environmental Solutions, an Israeli-Canadian company, they use a powder containing a mixture of cement, lime, plaster, steel slag and polypropylene fibers. It is inserted into the ground, stabilizing it by altering its mechanical engineering qualities. This makes it possible to begin repaving the road immediately. The paving time could be shortened from six months per kilometer to just four to six weeks.

It improves the properties of the natural soil instead of replacing it with filler materials brought in from faraway places, which saves about 40% of paving costs, lowers the cost of maintaining the road long-term, and also cuts carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the work by 40% compared to using the filler method.

Thus, this product is very cost effective since the aspect of cut an spoil does not arise. The construction period using this method takes least time compared to other conventional methods. Apparently, the very same product was used in construction of Kangundo Road, seven years down the line, and it is still intact despite constant heavy traffic.

The governor, who is accompanied by Eng. Lucas Wahinya, Chief Officer for Roads, Transport and Public Works and Hon. Nelson Munga, MCA, Chairman of the Roads Sectoral Committee in Kiambu County Assemby, also paid a courtesy call to Zerihu Yifru, Chief Engineer of Addis Ababa City Roads Authority, who confirmed that they have been using this product for it has proved to be effective.

Kiambu County Government plans to apply this technology on their county roads once the roads annuity programme is finalised. They say that through their roads department, they remain focused on improving infrastructure and ensuring that all county government roads are safe and passable.
The C.E.C Roads Transport, Public Works and Utilities Eng. Njeri Gatabaki earlier this month received guests from Zydex, a company seeking to partner with Kiambu County Government in the construction of good, low cost roads. The team has offered to introduce nanotechnology based products that will ensure increased durability and moisture resistant roads at lower construction and maintenance costs.

 Nanotechnology is a recently developed, major enabling tool, already well-established in several sectors of applied science, technology and engineering. Experiences in developed countries have proved that the possible benefits of nanotechnology in the transportation sector are manifold.

Its potential for development is such that nanotechnology is often being considered as the Industrial revolution of the 21st century. It is being predicted that the application of nanotechnology in construction of highways would lead to safer, simpler and cost effective highways. The science holds great promise for the transportation sector because, scientists potentially could manipulate the molecules of cement and asphalt to optimize certain features and create pavements to give much better performance. They could also manufacture more durable and stronger steel by rearranging and combining alloy particles