Car-wash takes a new turn
Washtech truck washing machine that will be installed in Nairobi. Photo/Laban Walloga
As technology advances, Kenya is getting a taste of it and the next stop is the cleaning business. Perceived as a menial job and confined to back streets and road sides, where dirty water is scooped from stagnant pools, car washing will take a new turn with the arrival of new technology in Kenya.
With water shortage and the growing need to keep the environment clean, car washing technologies have become fashionable globally. Car owners in major cities in Kenya and particularly in Nairobi will sample the technology in October and November when the pilot project is rolled out.
WashTec Car Wash Technology Ltd, which provides automated car-washing, says Kenya will be the third country to use the technology on the continent after Egypt and South Africa.
Managing Director Jugen Fuks says the company has ordered a Sh55 million automated unit known as the “washing street” from a German car wash equipment maker. The machine will be installed at Yaya Centre in Nairobi and has a capacity of washing 100 cars an hour and 1, 000 per day for Sh500 each.
It will be a drive-in unit where the car owner can choose to lock himself in the car as it goes through various chambers of washing up to the drier in just under five minutes.
“To save water, the machine has a recycling technology where up to 4,000 litres of water can be recycled per hour and re-used because no chemicals are used,” says Mr Fuks.
“One car can use about 10 litres of clean water but the rest is recycled water. We hope to train between 20 and 30 people who will be working full time once the operations start."
The technology, he said, services about 2.5 million vehicles per day globally. There are close to a million vehicles on Kenyan roads, and the company will be targeting small vehicles, mainly personal and company cars.
“We will start in Nairobi where we intend to acquire a plot and put up the company infrastructure and a training centre and expand to Mombasa next year,” he says.
Mr Fuks says the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has approved the technology. In the pipeline also includes another machine on Mombasa Road to serve trucks and other heavy commercial vehicles on highway.
