China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) will give priority to Kenyans when recruiting personnel to work on the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) Project.
The firm announced that it will only bring in Chinese expatriate workers in areas that require specialized skills.
The firm, which is gearing towards starting the KES 327bn railway project, said this has been the practice to date and has only brought in expatriates in instances where it has failed to find local capacity for certain roles.
CRBC has so far employed about 3,000 Kenyans as it prepares to start construction in October. CRBC said the number of Chinese expatriate workers will be capped at around 2,500. This will be besides a total of 30,000 local workers that will be engaged at the peak of construction of the railway project, meaning the proportion of Chinese workers will be below ten per cent.
“During the construction period there will be about 2,000 to 2,500 Chinese technical and managerial personnel for the SGR project. This translates into less than 10pc of the Chinese employees engaged in relation to 90pc of Kenyan employees that will be contracted,” Julius Li, Manager of Liaison and Cooperation for the SGR Project of CRBC in Kenya said.
The company also said the Chinese workers already in the country have made efforts to improve the capacity of Kenyans so as to minimize the need for Chinese labour in the construction of the 472 kilometre railway.
“We undertake to give priority to local personnel and build local technical capacity. We will ensure the transfer of technical knowhow and training programmes for the professional development of Kenyan employees engaged,” said Mr. Li.
The company said it would apart from its employees engage communities around the railway line to ensure a harmonious relationship in the course of its work.
“It is our position that we will maximize the employment of Kenyans for the construction of SGR and minimize the Chinese personnel,” he said.
Currently, about 600 Chinese have arrived in Kenya and about 3,000 Kenyans have been employed in readiness for the SGR project.