Kolin Construction: Hoima-Kaiso-Tonya road was no easy feat but we made it

By Silvia Nyambura

Two years ago, the Government awarded Kolin Construction, a Turkish company, a Ushs320 billion tender to upgrade from marrum to bitumen standard the Hoima-Kaiso-Tonya road.
The 92 kilometer stretch connects Uganda’s oil rich region. The company has just finished work on the project which was commissioned by the president at the end of last month. In this interview with The CEO Magazine, Kolin Construction Country Director, Bruhan Nassur speaks of the highs and lows of the project.

This was your first project in Uganda. Briefly tell me about the experience.

This was indeed our first project in Uganda and Sub-Sahara Africa as a whole. This means that first and foremost, we needed to know the lay of the land and the team had to understand how things are done here. It has been quite the experience for our company as well as other Turkish companies. I am proud to hear people say the Hoima-Kaiso-Tonya project is one of the best roads in East Africa.

How different has it been from the other markets you have worked in?

Africa is a continent without sufficient logistics in terms of transport and roads. Infrastructure is very important. Working here has been different especially because we had to complete the project in a set timeline. Railways here are not very functional because when you have to transport bulk construction material, you have to use the roads. Other markets do not have this problem. We have railways, proper roads and ships which make the conditions here quite unique. There is a gap in human resources; clearing is another problem with a lack of automated services, there is also too much paper work involved. We had to understand the situation and treat it specially.

In the onset of the project, you had been accused of having too many foreigners on the job. How did that work out for you and do you attribute that success to foreign human resource?

We were coming here for the first time working under a certain timeline. We know it is very expensive to bring experts to work here. However if we were to produce quality timely work we had to get in our people. If we do get a second project however, the number of foreigners will be highly reduced. We have been training the locals and we expect to reduce the number of foreign workers in our next project by 70 percent. At the time of completion, 90 percent of the people working with us were locals.

What unique challenges did you face during the project and how did you overcome them?

Challenges are a part of the job for example delays because of compensation on land. Like I said earlier, movement of materials was also a big challenge as well as getting our goods cleared and acquiring land for the quarry. We managed to be patient enough and learn the environment and the people and we were able to overcome these challenges.

Most foreign companies will once in a while have issues with payment. Have you been paid?

We understand this was a Government project and we are very proud it has kept its promises. The little delays are understandable. We may not have got it at the time we expected but Kolin always gets support from our parent company as we wait for Government to pay. Good enough, banks were so helpful as they provided us stand by facilitation as we progressed. These are things every business needs to prepare for. We were able to manage it and did not have a lot of issues when it came to payments.

What projects do you currently have your sights on and what in your opinion are the prospects for construction in 2015?

We have put our interests in on a few roads; one is the Hoima-Wanseko where we are ready to pre-finance, we do not need any down payment. We are also looking at Mubende, as well as Tirinyi-Paliisa, where we put in bids and are waiting to see how it goes. We should know the result by end of March. In terms of prospects, improving infrastructure is what Africa needs to do so as to reduce the cost of doing business. In Uganda particularly, the need is immense and we are glad to see the Government has taken extra measures to solve this issue.

What is your view on the regulatory environment in the country?

Being an international company we are among the first 200 construction companies in the world. We do not work with brokers because we prefer to do our projects directly. Regulation is a major issue, corruption is rife. Kolin protects itself by following the regulations. In addition, being an African Country Director to a foreign company gives us an edge. I understand the workings in Uganda and so I am better placed to protect my boss’ interests as well as know the rules here. We are bound by local laws as well as international ones and those from our mother company.

What are your plans in 2015?

We are looking at prospects in tourism in this country. This year we plan to look for opportunities to invest in the same, building hotels and so on. We are in communication with Radisson Blu, one of the hotels that announced its entry into the country recently, to see if we can build their facility here.