Propel Industries’ exponential growth in the last 10 years has been possible because of the unwavering support of the customers. We have always held the ‘Made in India for global audience’ tag with pride and our plant installed at Kingstone Concrete Quarry Ltd in Kenya, Africa stands testimony to this.
This project is close to our hearts because we emerged victorious after crossing several hurdles.
The start
A team of four Propel representatives worked for the success of this project. Our engineer from Propel Industries landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on June 21, 2019. The work in hand was big as it was Propel’s first full plant project but trained as he was, our engineer was super confident.
Thankfully the temperature was hovering between 16 to 21 degrees Celcius and there was rain, on and off.
“Somehow I associated Kenya with heat and dryness but it is not so,” says our engineer.
Sign to the rescue
“The national language of Kenya, Swahili was difficult for me to comprehend. I could not pick up even a few words, inspite of staying there for almost 4 months. Every word was a tongue twister for me,” said our engineer.
He revealed that the communication happened only through sign language and he actually mastered it!
The stay
The engineer was provided with a 3-star hotel accommodation and it was one, exclusively for Indians. The stay at Skymall, Parklands was indeed memorable for our engineer who thanks the customer for the thoughtful choice. The hotel had an Indian restaurant and our engineer recalls the tasty food served.
“The customer would get me roti and rice from his Gujarati household which was such a blessing. A special thanks to the customer, for that,” says the engineer.
Work and wonder
The project site was located at Ngelani city.
“It was a 40-kilometre drive from the hotel to the site. I prefer to call it a safari as the journey provided the same kind of excitement. I so much looked forward to the trip from the hotel to the project site as giraffes and zebras were crossing the roads. I could find ostriches on the pathways. There was a national park on the way, not to forget the urban infrastructure,” says the engineer.
The Project site
The work site was located in the outskirts of the city and this area was prone to visits from wild animals. Hyenas and Rhinos were common sights.
“All of us would leave the site by 6 pm to stay safe and prevent unwanted encounters with wild animals,” says the engineer.
There were safety concerns but the customer ensured that our engineer was placed in an absolutely secured location, apart from placing two armed rangers to guard the work place.
Getting skilled manpower and delivering quality output in Kenya was a difficult task which was accomplished, thanks to the support from the customer.
The quality of our civil work was greatly appreciated by one and all! It was touted as a civil marvel and praised by industry contemporaries.
The setback and take-off
The project which took off well witnessed a huge setback. The vehicle which transported jaw crusher met with an accident and the jaw was damaged.
It took six months to finish the insurance formalities, manufacture and transport the Jaw from India to Kenya.
“It was disheartening but we utilised the time to make the project better. After the second jaw reached us, we finished the project in February 2020 and started the trial run,” says the engineer.
The project was completed and is running well to the satisfaction of the customers. The customer is selling more than 1000 tonnes of sand per day and he vouches for our product and customer support.
The inputs for the blog has been provided by Mr. Dinesh Elankeeran from Projects department.
