Only 16 pct of Kenyan construction workers are trained: official

Only 16 percent of construction workers in Kenya have undergone formal training, hence the glaring skills gap in the critical sector, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development, James Macharia, told a construction forum in Nairobi that the government is addressing the skills deficit in the construction sector by training more contractors and artisans.

"Our target is to ensure that construction workers are skilled in order to enhance safety of buildings in Kenya," Macharia said during the opening of the annual Construction Research Conference and Exhibition 2016.

The event has attracted over 200 local and international exhibitors.

Macharia said the construction sector played a pivotal role in the creation of youth employment as well as the absorption of locally manufactured construction products such as cement.

Kenya has in the last decade increased investment in infrastructure in a bid to catalyze socio-economic development.

The minister said that in the 2016/2017 fiscal year, the government disbursed over five billion U.S. dollars in the information communication technology, energy and infrastructure related sectors in order to foster economic growth.

He said that a robust and well-coordinated construction industry will stimulate investment and job creation in Kenya.

According to Kenya's Economic Survey Report of 2016, the construction industry in the country posted a 13.6 percent growth in 2015. Endit