In a tour to inspect government projects, a section of National Development Implementation Technical Committee (NDITC) paid a visit to Technical university of Mombasa main campus on 12th January 2022, to inspect school of medicine project which costed the government Kshs 266,816,026. This came a day after inspecting an ultra-modern student hostel worth Ksh. 244 million and a 6.4 M worth perimeter wall at TUM- Kwale campus.
The School of Medicine project was started on April 7, 2017 and completed in January 2021. It comprises 18 classrooms, 6 laboratories,1 Cold room, 1 library,1 computer laboratory,1 Board room, 7 offices, 1 cafeteria and a basement parking.
While taking the committee through stages the project underwent since initiation, Technical University of Mombasa (TUM)’s Vice Chancellor Prof. Laila Abubakar highlighted challenges that hinders the institution from advertising for the purposed Medical courses citing unavailability of furniture and equipment as the main obstacle. “For the project to be fully functional it requires furnishing and equipment for the laboratories at a cost of Kshs. 306,952,534.81. We appreciate our Belgium collaborators who promised to procure equipment worth 12 Million. With all that in place we can then comfortably employ more medical staff to add to those available and operationalize this project.” She affirmed.
She further elucidated that TUM is a heritage site with old buildings constructed in 1948 when it was known as Mombasa Institute of Muslim Education (MIOME); with the salinity and harsh coastal weather, maintenance is therefore cost intensive with a projected budget of Kshs. 70,000,000.
Capitalizing on the multi-agency taskforce, The Vice chancellor sought assistance on two land issues which are currently in court. The Kiziwi land grabbing and the trace passing at the School of Engineering. She expounded that the issues contribute to congestion with nowhere to expand even with the current students’ population at 16,889 gauged to grow to 24,104 by 2028. Apparently, the available teaching space is 23,052sqm and projected space needed by 2028 is 156,721 sq. m hence a need for an Amphitheater at a cost of Kshs. 665,578,000.
Acclaiming the accomplishment of the project, the committee led by the State house - Chief of Staff, Mr. Nzioka Waita said, “we are impressed with the project's timely accomplishment and we are satisfied. Be sure we will convey this good news as we go back and promise to work on the constraints from our offices.” His elated counterpart PS. Prof. Collata Suda, could not hide her joy who went on commending the VC for the exemplary leadership “This is a job well done, Prof. Laila and team. You deserve to get the equipment for this state-of-the-art medical school.”
