Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment & Design (FEng / FBD)
http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/14110
2024-03-29T09:01:25ZTimber for building in East Africa
http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/98680
Timber for building in East Africa
Campbell, P.A
1. TIMBER SPECIES OF EAST AFRICA
These fall into four groups: indigenous and exotic; each divided
into Broad leaved (or hardwood)species and Conifers (or softwood) species.
Indigenous Broad leaved species
These comprise the majority of the species and occur over the whole
of East Africa though they are of particular economic importance to
Uganda and Tanzania in the absence of large supplies of conifers. This
group includes such species as Mvule, E.A. Camphor, African Mahogany,
Muninga and many others most of which are more used for joinery than
building though certain properties such as a locally favourable supply
and durability may encourage their use in some circumstances. These
timbers occur in natural forests though there are a few plantations.
Indigenous Conifers
The two species~ Pedo and Cedar9 are declining in importance in
Kenya as they become worked outo Both grow on the slopes of the higher
mountains mainly in Kenya and N. Tanzania. Cedar may be classified as a
scarce timber in large sizes but Podo is still available in Kenya and is
fairly common in No Tanzaniao
Exotic Broad leaved species
The main species are ubiquitous ~~ligna gum and grevillea from
Australia. Other eucalypts are also grown in plantations and there is
some teak in Tanzaniao The eucalypts have mainly been used for poles
and not great deal in converted form in construction though there is no
reason why this should not be done.
Exotic Conifers
These include Cypress and Pine and are grown extensively in the
Kenya Highlands and parts of Tanzania. Cypress is the main construction
timber over much of East Africa and this market will be shared with
Pine as increasing quantities of the latter become available.
1969-01-01T00:00:00ZSocial Acceptability Of Local Building Materials And Their Applications In The Construction Of Shelter Built-Form
http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/98659
Social Acceptability Of Local Building Materials And Their Applications In The Construction Of Shelter Built-Form
Syagga, Paul
The building materials industry though lacking a' precise" definition in many
-count:ries.,rrepr-esents81L.imrpopta~t .K!'oGlifl,of.i.'ldust-r .ies whose outputs .consti t ute
the main inputs in the construction sector which take the form of civil
engineering works, houses, and commercial and industrial buildings. The nature
of the construction output will determine the type of production inputs required
in terms of materials, plant and equipment as well as labour skills. In many
countries the inputs are obtained predominantly from imported sources, which
requires use of foreign exchange. Since. the developing countries are short of
foreign exchange, we must therefore be careful to minirnise expenditure of hard'
currency .. Hig.h dependence on imported construction inputs in the phse of
inadequate foreign exchange is one major cause' of low output In the const;;;r•u•c.."t,.-;l.:.-.-.;=--o-""n;-
industry. There is also the question of high construction costs arising from import
duties paid for the materials. The above phenomena have affected particularly
the provision of shelter in the developing countries which have high population
growth rates, rapid urbanisation and low income per capita.
It is considered that to the extent possible each countrv should mobilse local
'resources in the provision of shelter-built form. Low cost housing solutions such
as site and service program mes and settlement upgrading, most of which rely
upon significant self-help efforts should be promoted. These solutions should
consider how people house themselves under different socio-economic
characteristics of each country, give prior.ity to domestic production over
imports of building materials and use more labour intensive technologies. It is
considered here that concept of minimum standards in provision of shelter is
irrelevant if it is inconsistent with housing affordable to the population.
Planning and building standards for housing should be seen as measures of
I acceptability of shelter-built form in a given cultural, technological and
economic setting. They should evolve and change with time rather than be
imposed.
Indigenous building materials exist but are not widely used in many developing'
countries mainly because in the eyes of the political eli te , the administrator and
the professional, they are not attractive for political display, and so they are
. dismissed as being of inferior quality. Since the use of the materials is not
\ encouraged, they are therefore not produced in sufficient quantities. However,
for various reasons, but mainly due to careful analysis, political sensitivity and
interventions by some international agencies, many governments are promoting
the use of indigenous building materials by both improving the traditional
materials and developing relatively innovative rnater ials.j This paper proposes to
- examine the social acceptability and applications of some improved and
innovative building materials in the construction of shelter-built form in the
context of the experience gained through research and development in Kenya.
1989-01-01T00:00:00ZEvalution Of Women's Access To Urban Land And Credit And Community Development Activities In Urban Three Housing Project - Kenya Eldoret-Sirikwa Hotel - 26-6-1989
http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/98634
Evalution Of Women's Access To Urban Land And Credit And Community Development Activities In Urban Three Housing Project - Kenya Eldoret-Sirikwa Hotel - 26-6-1989
Ondiege, Peter
In most Developing countries only a small number of new jobs
are available in agriculture. The capital scarcity limits the
number of nonfarm jobs that can be created, because investments
costs per job are high in modern industry. Thus an effective
development policy should seek to increase the labor relative to.,
capital, to the extent that it is economically efficient.
In the Sessional Paper No. 1 of 1986 on Economic Management
for Renewed Growth, the Kenya Government notes that
historically, there has been
continue) on the youth corning to
collar employment. The Paper
a tendency (which will obviously
urban areas seeking for white
further notes that given the
opportunities opened up by rising rural income together with
pressure for new jobs exerted by I a growing workforce that is
estimated to double from 7.5 million 1984) to 14 million by the
year 2000, informal sector (or small-scale Enterprises, SSES)
will have to expand. The formal sector is estimated to absorb
only 1.15 million (1984) to 2.33 million (2000).
Estimates show that after other employment sectors take
their potion with urban informal sector taking "from 0.2
million (1984) to 0.4 million (2000) and rural non-farm 1.31
million (1984) to 2.84 million (2000) - the unemployed will be
0.98 million (1984) and about 1.4 million to 2.85 million
(2000). These unemployed include unsurveyed urban wage workers
and casual workers as well as the unemployed. Thus it is
officially recognised that modern sector will be unable to
accommodate more than a fraction of Kenya's workers from now to
the end of the century and that the majority of the future non-
2 -
farm job opportunities will be in the informal sector (or smallscale
enterprises, SSEs).
One of the main objectives of the Third Urban Project was to
assist in the development of an integrated urban network which
will support economic growth in rural areas and improve the
population holding capacity and urban employment base of
secondary towns in Kenya. The specific objective of this section
is to evaluate employment creation by Third Urban Projects in the
selected towns of Eldoret, Nakuru and Thika both direct and
indirect. For those p.rojects already implemented we are
interested in determining the activity groups that are
successful, facing problems, and what types of problems" the
extent to which they are trying to solve these problems and how
the authorities concerned can enhance their development. Income
profiles of these activity groups and the extent to which these
projects are benefiting urban poor are determined.
1989-01-01T00:00:00ZMaterials, Construction Techniques And Construction Economy In Developing Countries
http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/98626
Materials, Construction Techniques And Construction Economy In Developing Countries
Ondiege, P.O
Most of the studies have noted that urban ho~sing development
probl~~s jn Kenya are mainly due to high urban population growth
rates resulting from immigration and natural population growth, lag
in development of urban infrastructure that support housing development,
low purchasing power of the majority of the urban households
and the lack of appropriate building standards and by-laws especially
for the low-cost housing.
Heilbrun (1981) argues that the obvious and the most frequently
neglected fact is that every family must have a place to live and
that generally speaking the main function of the market is to match
up the existing number of households with the existing stock. It
has also been observed that the income of households is a major
determinant of housing units that may be supplied on the market.
Therefore the market function essentially reduces to matching up a
distribution of households by income amount with a distribution of
housing units by rent/price level.
The government policy is to discourage housing subsidies as much as
possible and encourage construction of affordable housing for various
income groups. Affordable housing implies that households are able
to pay market prices for the given housing.
The main purpose of the paper is to determine if the policy of
affordable nonsubsidized low-cost housing is realizable. Under
various assumptions, we estimate and analyze the affordability of
some of the housing programs that are being financed by the public
sector and the international agencies over the plan period 1979-83
by the lower and middle income households at market prices. In this
paper we assume that households spend between 15% and 25% of their
income on housing, PRENT. Each income group is subdivided into
three subgroups.
This paper is divided into five sections. It demonstrates that the
lower and middle income families would afford some of these housing
projects under the assumption that PRENT = 25%. However, the very
low income group would afford none of these projects. It is noted
that cost, offer and bid price functions if properly specified and
estimated as well as knowledge of the wage/income structure in the
urban areas would provide a better guide to formulation of building
standards and by-laws. Gentrification process possibilities are not
ruled out as about 75% of these projects are targeted at the mid-low
and upper-low income groups and only 12% of them are for the middle
income households.
1986-01-01T00:00:00Z