Page 53 - Engineering in Kenya Mag

purpose throughways, referred to as streetscapes.
Currently underway at the site is grading of these streetscapes, the development of the drainage facilities, a wastewater reclamation facility, water distribution and treatment, and the setting up of sewage collection and treatment plants.
Landscaping of the streetscapes is expected to follow completion of horizontal engineering works.
The Technopolis is set to host the first of its kind Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIT), a fully built-up postgraduate university dealing with life sciences, research and development.
On the engineering front, the Konza Technopolis project is literally blazing the trail in construction engineering, not only in Kenya, but also in the entire East and Central Africa region. At the heart of the futuristic development is the science of engineering at its best.
To solve the problem of constant excavations when need to entrench critical infrastructure in parts of the smart city arises, Konza Technopolis engineers, stewarded by Chief Construction and Operations Management Engineer Anthony Sang, settled on a utility tunnel running under streetscapes of the smart city.
This tunnel is the Konza City utility duct, carrying fibre cabling, power supplies and water piping around the Technopolis, and is estimated to be of 2.5m square vertical width. The city will be interspersed by 40km of tarmac roads.
Completion deadlines
The project aims to achieve both horizontal infrastructure in the form of streetscapes featuring roads, bus lanes, walkways, bicycle lanes, smart sewer and water treatment infrastructure, hand in hand with vertical infrastructure as the framework for the Technopolis.
The best part is that much of the horizontal infrastructural works are set for completion by February 2022, paving way for the commencement of the vertical built-up infrastructure.
“We are simulating life in one smart environment, in one smart industrial area interfacing with smart human residence, smart work, and light industrial manufacturing. Our task is to engineer a smart city that has all components of smart living; a master-planned modern city,” says
Eng. Sang.
The Konza development features
key components of smart urban planning: efficient mobility, waste management, enhanced technology, energy, water, security, housing development – all components that call for the best of engineering skills.
The entire project enjoys a 10km buffer zone within the three counties of Machakos, Makueni and Kajiado, within whose proximity the smart city sits.
“The Konza project was designed based on the stitch pattern, with a green transit corridor, 20m-60m wide local roads as opposed to the normal country roads with a utility tunnel running North to South,” says Eng. Sang.
Water and waste management
The Konza technopolis development envisages uninterrupted waste and water treatment and management, utilising water that has been treated for irrigation purposes, according to Eng. Sang. The city’s drainage and water supply system runs for 170km; with recycled water intended for irrigation and reuse.
“Different types of waste within the smart city will be segregated, put into receptacles that exist within parcels of Phase I of the development, and at some point the waste sucked by vacuum technology to a central repository, filled-up, compacted and handled for incineration, with others heading to specific dumps where appropriate,” he explains.
A 66kv electricity sub-station, located right in the middle of the Technopolis, backs up the power needs of the future smart city.
Project milestones
The development has recently registered a major milestone in the
completion of the national data centre, based right inside the Technopolis. Eng. Sang underscores the importance of the data centre for the future, emphasising that the facility has recently backed up the national war against the Covid-19 pandemic as a data-hosting centre for Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
According to the project chief engineer, contrary to common belief that Konza is all about a future ICT hub, the Technopolis is engineered as a huge functional science ecosystem, engineered to attract opportunities in terms of future investment from a wide spectrum of industry; including residence, work, school, ICT, health and life sciences research, development and light manufacturing.
Plans are also underway to pipe into the smart city permanent water supply from Ol Turesh springs in Kajiado, as well as from Makueni’s Thwake Dam, complete with standard water and waste treatment plants.
Opportunities and challenges
The smart city, Kenya’s first, is coming along with plenty of design and engineering challenges, that field engineers, led by Eng. Sang, his colleagues and project contractor engineers, grapple with daily.
“Engineering a smart city of this magnitude has come along with its fair share of challenges. From designs and coordinating the works of different contractors to fixing long- term challenges such as water supply and natural problems like occasional flooding, we continue to overcome setbacks,” says Eng. Sang.
The Konza Technopolis project has so far provided employment opportunities for over 2,000 Kenyans currently working at the site.
Chief Construction Engineer Anthony Sang instructs engineering staff working on site at Konza. PHOTOS: Gor Ogutu
Engineering in Kenya Magazine Issue 002
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