Africa-Press – Rwanda. The Institution of Engineers Rwanda (IER) on Friday March 4, 2022 joined the global engineers’ fraternity to celebrate the World Engineering Day.
In Rwanda, the day was celebrated through a guided study tour by a delegation comprising members of the engineers’ body to Kicukiro Centre where a modern flyover is being constructed as part of the ongoing Kicukiro Sonatubes-Gahanga-Akagera highway.
During the tour, engineers and officials stressed the need for knowledge transfer between Rwandan and foreign engineers practicing in the country.
Steven Sabiti, the Executive Secretary of the Institution of Engineers Rwanda (IER) said that the institution promotes knowledge transfer through workshops, internships and other exchange programs provided by the engineers’ body.
“Foreign companies operating in Rwanda provide internships for fresh graduates, and as the students work with them, they also acquire more knowledge from them so that Rwandans can also be able to take up the projects in the future,” he expressed.
The engineers’ body aims at having 30 percent of national mega construction projects contracted to Rwandans.
“Remember that after construction works these expatriates will go home, but we will need maintenance after some time, so we need to train our own people who will be able to intervene and take up the projects in such circumstances,” he said.
Over 200 engineers were provided with internships and work opportunities in the last two years.
Venkata Madhavarao Adusumilli, the team leader of the multi-billion flyover project commended Rwandan engineers’ passion and zeal to learn.
He said he is currently working with 10 Rwandan engineers through different assistantship duties in supervising projects, who he said are always open to learn.
“I’ve worked in different countries like Ethiopia, Zambia and Rwanda before, but Rwandan engineers are very smart and capture the concepts easily. I hope that in other few years coming, they will be team leaders of the same projects,”
Venkata also testified that his company has worked with many Rwandans, who ended up building a good experience and secured more offers to grow their careers.
Peace Liliose Buku, one of the engineers in the guided study tour indicated that there are a lot of lessons to pick from foreign engineers.
“Working together with foreigners helps us to learn from them so that we can embark on planning how we can do it by ourselves in the coming years, for example looking at the new structures on this flyover, indicates that we gain more skills if we keep approaching them,” she indicated.
Currently, the IER has over 2,500 registered professional engineers licensed to operate in Rwanda, of which 230 are women.
[2 image]
For More News And Analysis About Rwanda Follow Africa-Press
