Under the scorching sun, at the construction site of Taranta Sports City in Nairobi, Kenya, the roar of concrete mixers and the welding sound of steel structures interweave, and construction workers from China and Kenya shuttle through it. This 60000 seat venue, which will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2027 African Cup of Nations football tournament, is witnessing the speed and quality of China’s construction.
The regular project requires 4 years, but we only have 2 years. “In the office of Du Xiao, the project manager of the contractor China Road and Bridge Engineering Co., Ltd., a schedule was circled in red. In March 2024, when the company took over the Taranta Sports City project, Kenyan President Ruto proposed to supervise the progress.
The cable-stayed grid roof needs to be tensioned at a millimeter level at a height of 50 meters, and any slight error will render all previous efforts useless; 1300 containers of building materials need to be imported from China, putting pressure on the supply chain; More than 3000 local workers have varying levels of technical proficiency, and training and adaptation are urgently needed
When the foundation pit is flooded by rainstorm, the construction team will drain water day and night to grab the construction node from the mud; Faced with technical difficulties, the team and domestic experts work day and night to overcome them; To ensure the supply of building materials, the team has locked in the shipping schedule six months in advance and coordinated with customs to open up logistics channels
In the past, they only thought that China was far away, but now ‘China’s speed’ has become a consensus, “Du Xiao sighed as he pointed to the steel structure roof that had just taken shape.
To improve the technical level of local workers, the project department has established skill training courses. Technician Michael Otino said, “We admire the enthusiasm and dedication of Chinese builders towards their work. Building such a sports stadium is a rare learning opportunity for us young technicians
One day, Kenyan brothers will be able to independently build the second and third Taranta, “said Du Xiao.
In June 2024, the first challenge encountered by the Sports City project was concrete adaptation. The local sand and gravel have a high mud content, and the humidity fluctuates greatly during the rainy season, resulting in poor collapse resistance of the concrete, and severe segregation during multiple adaptive pouring. The chief engineer of the project, Zhou Zhendong, solved the concrete problem in one week through precise adjustment of mechanism sand and water reducing agent. The owner’s representative raised their thumb and said, “We believe in Chinese technology
Every piece of concrete is a reputation, and we must not ruin the reputation of Chinese quality, “said Zhou Zhendong.
Due to the integration of Chinese and European standards in the project, the tug of war over technical terms caused a temporary halt in progress. The project team established a ‘wartime command center’, with a team of experts from the design institute stationed on-site for collaboration. Late night meeting tables were filled with coffee cups and drawings. In just one month, the main drawings were approved.
In July 2024, President Ruto inspected the construction site and watched as the snap on brackets rose up like a forest of steel, exclaiming, “This is China’s speed
The cable-stayed mesh dome of the Taranta Sports City project is the first cutting-edge technology in Africa that shares the same origin as the home stadium of the Qatar World Cup. The steel cable tensioning requires millimeter level precision. Deputy Chief Engineer Yang Meng established the iron rule of the “first piece acceptance system”: each process must first make a sample, and only after all employees pass the assessment can it be rolled out. A worker muttered, “It’s too serious.” He said, “100% self inspection, 100% qualified, this is the bottom line
Now, the main structure of Taranta Sports City has been topped out. As night falls, the construction site remains busy.
Justin Machuca, a surveyor with 38 years of experience, looked at the embryonic curved stands and said his biggest wish is to bring his grandson to watch the African Cup. I will tell him that this stadium also has grandpa’s sweat