Posted on 07/07/2017 12:10:09 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
A Chinese-built bridge collapsed in Kenya two weeks after it was inspected by the president
A $10 million Chinese-built bridge in western Kenya, personally commissioned by president Uhuru Kenyatta, has collapsed. At least 27 workers were injured when the bridge broke on Monday (June 26). The government has halted construction and sent a team of engineers to investigate.
The collapse occurred less than two weeks after president Kenyatta visited the site as part of a campaign tour before general elections in August. Kenyatta, who is up for reelection, has been emphasizing his party’s focus on infrastructure projects, like a new railway between Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa.
The president promised to build the bridge in Busia county after a boat carrying 11 people capsized on the river, killing everyone on board. Kenyatta attended the funeral for one of the victims, a student.
The collapse isn’t good news for Chinese companies operating in Africa either. Over the past decade, as Chinese companies have won more contracts to build roads and other infrastructure projects across the continent, Chinese officials and companies have worked to overcome a reputation for poor quality and lax safety standards. Portions of a Chinese built road in Zambia were washed away by rains in 2009, and a hospital in Angola was evacuated when local officials feared it would collapse in 2010, incidents that were widely covered in local media.
(Excerpt) Read more at qz.com ...
P!
Kenyans seem equally incompetent there as here.
Chinese products are crap. All the goods they ship here is 3rd rate - Chinese dry wall, appliances that are built to last all of 3 years.
I suspect Chinese bought off local politicians, who let Chinese have their way.
Civil engineering with dollar store quality materials has consequences. Biodegradable bridges are not very useful.
Was Obama there when it collapsed, he was over there somewhere? lol
Chinese company screwed up a bridge in the San Fransisco bay area too. Costing almost as much to fix it as it cost to build it.
BINGO!
Back in the 1980's, the EU & Great Britain (IIRC) were providing funding for a Yugoslav company to rebuild. Kenya's major (only) highway from Nairobi to Uganda. When I stopped by to take a look (back in the late 1960's I inspected road construction and was now curious), they were beginning to pave using 1.5" asphalt over a compacted earth base. NO gravel and NO soil cement!
When I asked the Yugoslav construction superintendent about it, his reply was "Go away, don't bother me."
A year later, that section had a detour due to the pavement breaking up.
Of the total "cost" to build the road, probably half went into materials, equipment, overhead and labor. 10% for legitimate profit. The rest went as graft, both to government officials and to the contractor
President Kenyatta needs to stick to his day job....”bridge inspector” apparently isn’t his calling.
Reading this story begs a question in MY mind: How stable, and immovable, and lasting will those chinese-built islands prove to be that were recently constructed in the Spratleys in the South China Sea?
How about the Seven Gorges Dam? There’s a project where a severe failure would have some serious hard-to-sweep-under-the-rug-and-ignore consequences.
And Chinese cars will be arriving here soon.
Was it named after the native son, Obama?
Why do the Kenyans need the Chinese to build their bridges?
We can only hope that he was underneath.
We can only hope that he was underneath.
embarrasing.........
Cutting corners, using cheaper product for higher profitability etc...
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