BY KIBIWOTT KOROSS AND KURGAT MARINDANY OPERATIONS at the trou- bled East African Portland Cement are back to normal, the rm said yesterday. Addressing journalists at a Nairobi hotel, EAPC Managing Director Kephar Tande said the company had resumed operations adding that their produc- tion was currently at 75 percent. “We are back in opera- tion and as we speak, we are producing between 2000 and 2500 tonnes of cement per day,” he said. He said the company had come into an agree- ment with members of Maasai community who had blocked the company’s vehicle from accessing raw materials in the area. All cement manufactur- ing companies in Athi River sought the intervention of Maasai Elders’ Coun- cil after they were hit by a serious shortage of klinker following the closure of all the mining sites by Kajiado County locals a month ago. The Maasai community in Kibini area of Sultan Ha- mud in Mashuru District chased away more than 50 employees of Portland based there. All the employ- ees ushed out of the area were non locals. The meetings that started last Friday and ended yester- day were attended by all the representatives of ve ce- ment producing companies; EAPCC, Bamburi, Rhino Cement, Mombasa Cement and Simba cement. On the other hand were members of the Maasai Council of Elders led by Mzee Michael ole Sawaina. “We have held talks with the local community and they agreed not to block our vehicles from accessing raw materials in the area,” he said.” At least we have managed to bring all the staff on board. We have also agreed with the Maasai elders from Kajiado county who ordered the closure of all mines for gypsum, lime- stone and pozzolana that we use to make cement,” said Tande. Tande said he and the chairman held talks with the Maasai elders to chart the way forward. “We agreed on a number of things.The company will build schools and drill bore- holes for the communities,” he said. “As a good gesture, we will also be offering scholarships to deserving students from the area.” The elders ordered all the mines closed and gave the government an ultimatum to return the suspended di- rectors who they claimed had been “victimised un- necessarily”. It is estimated the compa- ny lost Sh750 million during the strike after the workers went on strike demanding immediate resignation of its board chairman Mark Kar- bolo and Tande, who had been suspended alongside six other board members by the government over al- leged mismanagement. The court later faulted the sus- pension. BY WINFRED KAGWE TOURISM minister Najib Balala has said the East Africa region is on course to introduce a single tour- ist visa in a bid to grow investments in the sector. The EAC Sectoral Coun- cil on tourism and wildlife management has been working on the document for some time now. “East Africa has got some of the biggest invest- ments in tourism. The countries need to come together and form a united platform with the aim of marketing East Africa as a single tourist destination,” he said. Balala was speaking during the Sauti za Busara Festival, an annual music festival held in Zanzibar. He said cultural tour- ism would particularly benet from a unied visa given East Africa’s culture diversity. “There is need for other East African countries like Kenya to emulate such good practices to be able to attract tourists who travel far and wide to get a glance of the captivat- ing African culture,” the minister said. 36 LOCAL THE STAR Monday, February 13, 2012 Can YOU outsmart the expert? Balala promises EAC new single tourist visa ★ business UP TO DATE, ACCURATE BUSINESS INFORMATION NEWS YOU CAN USE, EVERY DAY We are back at work says Portland chief ALY KHAN’S STAR PORTFOLIO MY brother Jamil has been visiting from Chicago and he mentioned that the KFC in Port of Spain had the highest sales per square foot of any branch in the world. I said; ‘I wish you had been here when the KFC opened. I am sure our KFC must have given Port of Spain a run for its money.’ Then, my mind wan- dered to Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad “V. S.” Naipaul, who, hailed from Trinidad as well. He wrote a book called ‘A house for Mr. Biswas’ which remains one of my favourite books. The image that remains imprinted on my mind, is of a young boy, standing by the side of the road, who watches a car pass through his village. And reading that book, you realise how driven Naipaul was, to leave Trinidad, to join the world. His greatest fear was to be that little boy [who would then grow into an old man] watching cars pass by. That image was a call to action. This period was well be- fore the global village that Marshall Mcluhan spoke of so presciently came to pass. Today the mobile phone and through it the mobile internet, means that little boy somewhere in a remote village in Trinidad might tweet or email, he is no longer on the periphery of the 21st Century, he actually has an entry ticket. And thats why I remain evangelical about the mobile phone and why I believe it is a silver bullet for the periphery. I come from mombasa. I am 47 years old. I, too, as a young man wanted to move from the periphery to the centre. I appreci- ate the fact that now in many respects the centre is actually everywhere and nowhere and with a fast internet connection, anyone anywhere can insert themselves into the centre. The main thrust of this piece is captioned in the title ‘foot traffic indica- tor.’ Sure, all kinds of ‘big hitters’ passed through. Adnan Khashoggi, William Holden, Daniel Wildenstein are just a few names. These folks were com- ing to play. This week past, the CEO of nokia passed through Nairobi and said: ‘We have made a very conscious decision to make Kenya one of our worldwide hub for innova- tions from where we can serve Africa and parts of Middle East.’ The previous week the CEO of General Elecric Jeffrey Immelt passed through and announced that the company would build a 150MW wind energy farm in Ngong. On Friday, I spent an hour with Dr. Ricardo hausman [who was the Minister for Finance in Venezuela when I traded Latin America and is now the director of the Center for International Development at Harvard University] in my office. The United Kingdom foreign secretary William Hague stopped in Nairobi on his way from Mogad- ishu. In many respects, I am sure many of you have waited for this moment. The moment when we start popping over the ra- dar. That moment is upon us. We are popping big. When the world turns its face towards you, you have to embrace it. I have waited 47 years for this moment. You? Shares go up and down and readers are advised that this column represents Mr Satchu’s personal opinions. KENYA MUST SEIZE MOMENT OF GLOBAL ATTENTION REBOUND: Portland MD Kepha Tande says the firm is back to normal production. PHOTO/CHRISPINUS WEKESA BY MATHEWS NDANYI The government is to introduce new standards and codes in the construction industry in order to help improve quality of constructions in line with modern technology. The construction industry in Kenya has been guided by British standards and codes for the past ve decades but they will now be replaced by the European Standards and codes. An ofcial of the Kenya Beareu of Standards (KEBS) Patricia Kimani says they will host training programmes in collaboration with Moi University to train relevant stakeholders on the changes to be introduced. The new standards and codes to be known as Eurocodes will provide a common reference point for all consultants and contractors in Kenya and across the region. The Eurocodes are the Europe-wide means for the structural design of buildings and other civil and engineering works. Construction industry to get new laws
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BY KIBIWOTT KOROSS AND KURGAT MARINDANY
OPERATIONS at the trou-bled East African Portland Cement are back to normal, the !rm said yesterday.
Addressing journalists at a Nairobi hotel, EAPC Managing Director Kephar Tande said the company had resumed operations adding that their produc-tion was currently at 75 percent.
“We are back in opera-tion and as we speak, we are producing between 2000 and 2500 tonnes of cement per day,” he said.
He said the company had come into an agree-ment with members of Maasai community who had blocked the company’s vehicle from accessing raw materials in the area.
All cement manufactur-ing companies in Athi River sought the intervention of Maasai Elders’ Coun-cil after they were hit by a serious shortage of klinker following the closure of all the mining sites by Kajiado County locals a month ago.
The Maasai community in Kibini area of Sultan Ha-mud in Mashuru District chased away more than 50 employees of Portland based there. All the employ-ees "ushed out of the area were non locals.
The meetings that started last Friday and ended yester-
day were attended by all the representatives of !ve ce-ment producing companies; EAPCC, Bamburi, Rhino Cement, Mombasa Cement and Simba cement. On the other hand were members of the Maasai Council of Elders led by Mzee Michael ole Sawaina.
“We have held talks with the local community and they agreed not to block our vehicles from accessing raw materials in the area,” he said.” At least we have managed to bring all the staff on board. We have also agreed with the Maasai
elders from Kajiado county who ordered the closure of all mines for gypsum, lime-stone and pozzolana that we use to make cement,” said Tande.
Tande said he and the chairman held talks with the Maasai elders to chart the way forward.
“We agreed on a number of things.The company will build schools and drill bore-holes for the communities,” he said. “As a good gesture, we will also be offering scholarships to deserving students from the area.”
The elders ordered all the
mines closed and gave the government an ultimatum to return the suspended di-rectors who they claimed had been “victimised un-necessarily”.
It is estimated the compa-ny lost Sh750 million during the strike after the workers went on strike demanding immediate resignation of its board chairman Mark Kar-bolo and Tande, who had been suspended alongside six other board members by the government over al-leged mismanagement. The court later faulted the sus-pension.
BY WINFRED KAGWE
TOURISM minister Najib Balala has said the East Africa region is on course to introduce a single tour-ist visa in a bid to grow investments in the sector.
The EAC Sectoral Coun-cil on tourism and wildlife
management has been working on the document for some time now.
“East Africa has got some of the biggest invest-ments in tourism. The countries need to come together and form a united platform with the aim of marketing East Africa as a
single tourist destination,” he said.
Balala was speaking during the Sauti za Busara Festival, an annual music festival held in Zanzibar.
He said cultural tour-ism would particularly bene!t from a uni!ed visa given East Africa’s culture
diversity.“There is need for other
East African countries like Kenya to emulate such good practices to be able to attract tourists who travel far and wide to get a glance of the captivat-ing African culture,” the minister said.
36 LOCAL THE STAR Monday, February 13, 2012
Can YOU outsmart the expert?
Balala promises EAC new single tourist visa
★business UP TO DATE, ACCURATE BUSINESS INFORMATIONNEWS YOU CAN USE, EVERY DAY
We are back at work says Portland chief
ALY KHAN’S STAR
PORTFOLIO
MY brother Jamil has been visiting from Chicago and he mentioned that the KFC in Port of Spain had the highest sales per square foot of any branch in the world.
I said; ‘I wish you had been here when the KFC opened. I am sure our KFC must have given Port of Spain a run for its money.’
Then, my mind wan-dered to Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad “V. S.” Naipaul, who, hailed from Trinidad as well. He wrote a book called ‘A house for Mr. Biswas’ which remains one of my favourite books.
The image that remains imprinted on my mind, is of a young boy, standing by the side of the road, who watches a car pass through his village. And reading that book, you realise how driven Naipaul was, to leave Trinidad, to join the world. His greatest fear was to be that little boy [who would then grow into an old man] watching cars pass by. That image was a call to action.
This period was well be-fore the global village that Marshall Mcluhan spoke of so presciently came to pass. Today the mobile phone and through it the mobile internet, means that little boy somewhere in a remote village in Trinidad might tweet or email, he is no longer on the periphery of the 21st Century, he actually has an entry ticket. And thats why I remain evangelical about the mobile phone and why I believe it is a silver bullet for the periphery.
I come from mombasa. I am 47 years old. I, too, as a young man wanted to move from the periphery to the centre. I appreci-ate the fact that now in many respects the centre
is actually everywhere and nowhere and with a fast internet connection, anyone anywhere can insert themselves into the centre.
The main thrust of this piece is captioned in the title ‘foot traffic indica-tor.’ Sure, all kinds of ‘big hitters’ passed through. Adnan Khashoggi, William Holden, Daniel Wildenstein are just a few names.
These folks were com-ing to play.
This week past, the CEO of nokia passed through Nairobi and said:
‘We have made a very conscious decision to make Kenya one of our worldwide hub for innova-tions from where we can serve Africa and parts of Middle East.’
The previous week the CEO of General Elecric Jeffrey Immelt passed through and announced that the company would build a 150MW wind energy farm in Ngong. On Friday, I spent an hour with Dr. Ricardo hausman [who was the Minister for Finance in Venezuela when I traded Latin America and is now the director of the Center for International Development at Harvard University] in my office. The United Kingdom foreign secretary William Hague stopped in Nairobi on his way from Mogad-ishu.
In many respects, I am sure many of you have waited for this moment.
The moment when we start popping over the ra-dar. That moment is upon us. We are popping big. When the world turns its face towards you, you have to embrace it.
I have waited 47 years for this moment.
You?
Shares go up and down and readers are advised that this column represents Mr Satchu’s personal opinions.
KENYA MUST SEIZE MOMENT OF GLOBAL ATTENTION
REBOUND: Portland MD Kepha Tande says the firm is back to normal production.
PHOTO/CHRISPINUS WEKESA
BY MATHEWS NDANYI
The government is to introduce new standards and codes in the construction industry in order to help improve quality of constructions in line with modern technology.
The construction industry in Kenya has been guided by British standards
and codes for the past !ve decades but they will now be replaced by the European Standards and codes.
An of!cial of the Kenya Beareu of Standards (KEBS) Patricia Kimani says they will host training programmes in collaboration with Moi University to train relevant stakeholders on the changes to be
introduced.The new standards and codes to be
known as Eurocodes will provide acommon reference point for all
consultants and contractors in Kenya and across the region. The Eurocodes are the Europe-wide means for the structural design of buildings and other civil and engineering works.
Construction industry to get new laws
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