http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/97959 Mon, 18 May 2026 20:36:09 GMT 2026-05-18T20:36:09Z 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. Wed, 01 Jan 1969 00:00:00 GMT http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/98680 1969-01-01T00:00:00Z 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. Sun, 01 Jan 1989 00:00:00 GMT http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/98659 1989-01-01T00:00:00Z 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. Sun, 01 Jan 1989 00:00:00 GMT http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/98634 1989-01-01T00:00:00Z 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. Wed, 01 Jan 1986 00:00:00 GMT http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/98626 1986-01-01T00:00:00Z