Group photo Director General of Rwanda Standards Board with participants to the meeting
Today, June 7th 2017, Rwanda hosts the 5th African Organization for Standardization (ARSO) Technical Harmonization Committee (ARSO/THC 03) meeting on building and civil engineering. The three days meeting takes place at Lemigo Hotel in Kigali and is convened in compliance with the recommendations of the previous meeting held in Nairobi, in December 2016. In his opening and welcome remarks, Mr. Raymond Murenzi, Director General of Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) expressed gratitude to ARSO and the Technical Committee in particular for having chosen Rwanda to host the meeting and emphasized:

“It is gratifying to note that the agenda of the Workshop covers a wide range of very interesting items relating to technical guide for concrete, concrete paving units and energy efficiency in buildings, approval of Final Draft African Standards (FDRAS) and a discussion on new work items to be developed and harmonized by ARSO to reflect the interests of African consumers, manufacturers and public authorities.”

 

Director General of RSB addressing the Media at the official opening of the meeting

He further noted that Africa has become very attractive to specifiers in search for more and more proposals for building construction and rehabilitation because of rapidly growing population and especially urbanization in Cities. That means that the stock of Africa’s infrastructure assets, including all of its residential, industrial and commercial buildings and power transmissions and sanitation systems will have to double in size. Therefore, Africa needs to accelerate building and infrastructure developments to align with that growth; and that will require unthinkable amounts of building materials, construction planning, manpower, products and services to accomplish such a momentous task.

Also, Mr. Raymond Murenzi reiterated that standards harmonization for building materials and civil engineering is crucial in facilitating policy and regulation makers in Africa to promote Made in Africa products as well as empower African construction materials manufacturing and contracting business performances in the building sector.

On his note, Dr. Shady Nabil Hammouda, Chairperson of the ARSO/THC 03 argued that the Technical Committee not only facilitates open dialogue among African stakeholders but also provides a unique opportunity for a diverse group of civil engineering and construction experts to involve in the transformation of the African building sector through networking, knowledge and experience sharing, best practices and the latest technological innovations to address challenges embedded in the construction sector on the continent.

 

Dr. Shady Nabil Hammouda addressing the Media

The Technical Harmonization Committee (ARSO/THC 03) on Building and Civil engineering meeting brings together experts from 14 participating Member States namely: Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Namibia, Rwanda, Egypt (Chair), Tanzania, Ethiopia, Gabon, Senegal, South Africa (Secretary), Mauritius, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and one (1) observer Member State: Seychelles. The Member States are represented in the THC by their National Standards Bodies. ARSO is an intergovernmental Organization established by the Organization of African Unity (OAU, currently African Union (AU)) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in 1977, with 21 African Governments as founding members. The principal mandate of ARSO is to harmonize African Standards and conformity assessment procedures in order to reduce Technical Barriers to Trade and therefore promote intra-Africa and international Trade, as well as enhancing the industrialization of Africa.