The Institution of Engineers Rwanda (IER) in collaboration with the Federation of Africa Engineering Organization (FAEO) organised a two-day training workshop aimed at equipping engineers with expertise and tools to prepare and produce an infrastructure report card.

The workshop that attracted 40 participants from both public and private engineering disciplines ran from November 25 to 26.

In his remarks, Eng. Edward Kyazze, the Division Manager of Urbanization, Human Settlement and Housing Development at the Ministry of Infrastructure underscored the importance of the training.

"This is a great opportunity for engineering professionals in the country to acquire relevant and needed skills in development of infrastructure report cards which will facilitate the government and investors to know the comprehensive status of our infrastructure and hence decide on the appropriate interventions,” he said:

He added: "The Government allocates over 25 per cent of the national budget to the infrastructure sector, and these skills will bridge the knowledge and data gaps and enhance the regular maintenance of the public infrastructure.”

Eng. Kyazze also re-affirmed the Ministry’s commitment to support IER’s efforts to organize similar training aimed at elevating member’s skills in the various engineering disciplines.

In his remarks, the President and Chairman of IER’s Governing Council, Eng. Gentil Kangaho said that the training is in line with the organization’s mandate.

"This training is aligned with IER’s mandate to regularly enhance its members’ technical capacities and professional competencies to remain competitive and adapt to the best practices and new innovations in the global Engineering job markets,” he said.

Kangaho also among others expressed "appreciation to the Government of Rwanda and other development partners particularly FAEO for their continued support and collaboration rendered to our organization.”

"A timely training”

Eng. Kazawadi Papias Dedeki, World Federation of Engineering Organization (WFEO) and FAEO Chairman for the Committee on Anti-Corruption, reiterated that the training was timely.

He said: "This training is essential for the Government, investors and engineers considering that all these key actors need readily available and reliable data on infrastructure to be able to make informed decisions.”

"This training will tremendously benefit Engineering professionals by improving their specialized capabilities/expertise (such as in power supply, road network, bridges and many others) considering that this infrastructure reporting mechanism provides quick and easy access to standardized information depository to facilitate in planning, budgeting and knowledge sharing processes,” he added.

Eng Prof Dr  Martin Van VEELEN, the renowned international expert from SouthAfrica shares with local engineers his experience during a two-day training workshop. / Courtesy

In his closing remarks, renowned international expert from South Africa, Eng. Martin Van VEELEN who moderated the training highlighted the essence of having skills on infrastructure report card preparation and production.

"This training on the development of an Infrastructure report card increases your awareness on the importance of economic and social infrastructure as well as the associated role of engineering and environmental professionals,” he told the participants  

"It is benchmarked on the SDGs and has well defined performance and evaluation indicators that enhances infrastructure assessment reporting to key stakeholders.”

The Institution of Engineers Rwanda (IER) was established as a Professional Regulatory Body in 2012, with a mandate of regulating and guiding the activities of all those practising engineering profession in Rwanda to ensure that engineering services they deliver are in compliance with established engineering standards of service delivery and best practices.