Universally, Engineering is one of the most respected professions. It involves use of scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions in various situations mainly in industrial and construction environments. It is therefore no surprise that the bar for joining engineering is normally set high, just like for a few other professions where only the best are allowed to trade.
And although engineering has come a long way and is constantly evolving, the underlying principles remain the same. These principles include among others Testability, Maintainability, Integrity and Ethics.
Like all other areas, technology has permeated the engineering discipline. Gone are the days when engineers would spend countless hours at a drawing table with an assortment of pens to come up with drawings under the shadow of looming deadlines. Today, design software has made it much easier to work. However, the computerized drawing is only as good as its creator; skill is still critical.
Engineering is a calling. Mistakes are costly with potential to end careers. That explains why only the passionate, resilient and those willing to continually improve can survive in the trade. Engineer Ramzan Kassamali Boga or simply R.K. Boga Consulting Engineers in the construction industry, can be described as such.
With more than 50 years practicing as an engineer, this Zanzibar-born Kenyan consultant has seen it all. He has seen the country and East Africa as a whole undergo transformation as project after project changed the built environment. The list of projects he has handled over the years is almost endless. Engineer Boga can literally look into any of the eight compass points and identify a project on which he offered his services. Amazingly, he is not any close to calling it a day.
The man who now runs his own firm of consulting engineers named after him having teamed up with Associates, Senior Engineers and Technicians, began his journey with basic and secondary education in Zanzibar. After completing Senior Cambridge Level, he was offered a scholarship by the Government to pursue further studies in India. He enrolled at Bombay University from where he graduated with Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering in 1958.
After graduation, Boga returned to Zanzibar where he worked for a short period before being awarded another scholarship by the Aga Khan Education Service, Zanzibar, to advance his education at Leeds University in the United Kingdom. At Leeds, the young engineer earned a Post Graduate Diploma in Concrete Technology before enrolling, with the assistance of Leeds University bursary, for a Masters Degree in Structural Engineering which he was awarded in 1964.
Engineer Boga then worked in Europe for a while, gaining critical experience in that much more advanced part of the world. Even before completing his Masters Degree, Engineer Boga worked as a Designer/Detailer with Constructors John Brown for a year in their London design office. From 1964 to 1965, he was in Switzerland with Frutiger und Söhne AG Thun as a Structural Engineer. Here, he was involved in the construction of a shopping mall. And between 1965 and 1966, he was in the Danish capital Copenhagen working as a Structural Engineer for PE Malmstroem where he was involved in the design of multi-storey blocks of flats in precast concrete.
After spending the early part of his engineering life in Europe, Eng. Boga returned to East Africa and settled in Kenya where he joined the Consulting Engineering firm of R.A. Sutcliffe. Among his major projects while with this firm were Mater Misericordiae Hospital (now Mater Hospital) and Marshalls Building. He later joined Cowi Consult where he served as a Structural Engineer and got to work on such projects as Kenya Education Centre at the University of Nairobi and Nakuru Hospital Staff quarters.
It was after this stint at Cowi Consult that Engineer Boga felt the time was ripe to launch his own practice, which he did in 1970. And so R.K. Boga Consulting Engineers was born.
For the last 45 years, R.K. Boga’s signature has been on numerous projects in Kenya and beyond across commercial, hospitality, educational, industrial and other segments. Some are relatively small; others are massive projects that are easily recognizable on the horizon.
In the commercial portfolio, R.K. Boga has handled Nation Centre, Development House, European Union Headquarters, Integrity Centre and Stima Plaza among many others.
Hospitality projects include Crowne Plaza, various Serena Hotel establishments, Windsor Golf and Country Club, Fairview Hotel, Hotel Intercontinental, Safari Park Hotel, Mara Simba Lodge and numerous others in Kenya and beyond.
R.K. Boga boasts many civic projects such as late President Jomo Kenyatta’s mausoleum, Visa Oshwal Community Centre, Nairobi Pentecostal Church Langata Rd and Aga Khan Cultural Centre in Zanzibar.
On the industrial front, R.K. Boga is credited with such impressive projects as Sameer Industrial Park, Henkel Kenya, DT Dobie, Simba Colt and Premier Foods among others.
The firm has also been involved in the health sector having offered services at Aga Khan hospitals, Gertrude Children’s Hospital, Nairobi Hospital and many more.
In housing, R.K. Boga has been involved on projects such as New Muthaiga, Mimosa Court and ILRAD Staff Housing while his portfolio of education projects includes many institutions belonging to the Aga Khan Group and a host of other institutions of higher learning.
Despite all these accomplishments, Engineer Boga remains a humble man. In spite of the various hiccups that surround the engineering profession and the construction industry at large, he is careful not to apportion blame on anybody, only remarking that all professionals are guided by a code to which they should adhere. He has high regard for his fellow engineers. “I think Kenya has the best engineers in East Africa, if not in the whole of Africa”, he says. He believes professionalism and integrity are key to success, saying he has trained a large number of engineers during his career.
Engineer Boga intends to soldier on and do what he does best. And although unlike in the beginning most jobs today come to him rather than him actively going out to seek them, he maintains the best possible relationships with all clients and consultants, acting in the best interest of the client while safeguarding his hard-earned reputation in the industry.
