28 June 2022
Expert mission in Nairobi for the technical cooperation
Our technical cooperation with the Kenyan Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing, Urban Development and Public Works (MoTIHUD) and the French Development Agency carries on!
François-Xavier Perin, our senior expert on the project, was in Nairobi from Wednesday 9th to Sunday 13th of June where he met with Laure Lefébure, Codatu project officer based by NaMATA, as part of our activities to support the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (NaMATA) in its internal structuring and institutional positioning.
Created in February 2017, NaMATA has been established, among others, to implement and coordinate an integrated metropolitan-wide public transport system, including the creation of a Bus Rapid Transit network, the rehabilitation and extension of the urban rail network (commuter rail line) and the coordination of a Non-Motorized Transport (NMT) system.
NaMATA is currently handling the delivery of its first BRT line, the BRT line 2, with the operational pilot phase to be started end of July 2022. Soon, the authority will see its responsibilities broaden, from supervising its first operations to the implementation of its future lines, including the BRT line 3. As a relatively new authority without long-term sources of funding and sufficient human resources, NaMATA needs to be equipped with the relevant competences to build up into an efficient organization able to manage multiple complex projects.
The French Development Agency, through a European Union grant dedicated to the implementation of BRT line 3, is willing to finance a 4-year phased recruitment plan, covering for the BRT Line 3 project implementation period and its first year of operation. CODATU has thus been mandated to formulate a recruitment proposal, with the aim of developing within NaMATA the missing critical competences to deliver and operate an efficient BRT network.
The visit of our senior expert was the opportunity to finalize the recruitment recommendations, hand-in-hand with NaMATA, review the legal solutions regarding NaMATA’s salary attractiveness, and build the final budget. The mission concluded with a presentation of the finalized recruitment plan to NaMATA and the donors involved in the implementation of BRT line 3, i.e. the French Development Agency, the European Union and the European Investment Bank.
We also had the chance to follow up on the implementation progress of BRT line 2, after a first visit on the ground in December 2021.
We thank NaMATA’s team for their availability and warm welcome and are looking forward to further collaboration!
