Crime

Demolitions resume:poorly constructed building to be demolished

16/11/2018
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Owner of poorly constructed  buildings and those constructed on riparian lands in Nairobi’s Eastlands area prepare for a date with the bulldozers.

A multi agency task force consisting of National Construction Authority, National Environment Management Authority and the Nairobi County has embarked on a mission to inspect and earmark unsafe buildings in Nairobi and its environs.

Yesterday the team was at Umoja 3 where one building was earmarked for demolition.

Stephen Mwangi, a technical person with National Construction Authority says they are also trying to ensure that contractors comply with the required statutory requirements around Nairobi Region.

“We also want to know if contractors of upcoming buildings have approval letters from NCA, NEMA, we want to know if they have qualified supervisors and many other thing,” said Mwangi.

Mwangi says the inspections will not stop in Umoja but will go on to the other parts of the county.

The Nairobi Regeneration Committee was supposed to continue with demolition of buildings this week beginning with Huruma area which is perceived to have the most substandard buildings.

Image result for demolition in nairobi The inspection comes after close to two months break of demolitions in Nairobi and its environs.

The demolitions targets 4,000 buildings, structures and facilities erected on riparian land and road reserves.

The head of the multi-agency team overseeing the exercise, Mr Julius Wanjau, said the operation is set to resume before the end of this month after the expiry of most of the one-month notices given out.

Mr Wanjau said the multi-agency team will meet any time this month to strategise on the next course of action.

“We could not proceed with the demolitions as there were notices given out last month by this team causing a stop to the demolitions but most expired on October 31 and so we will start any time this month so long as it is within Nairobi,” said Mr Wanjau .

He further stated that before the demolitions stopped, almost half of the approximated 2,000 marked structures on wetlands in Nairobi had been brought down by the end of August either through individual efforts or by the multi-agency task force.

“Many people who had marks on their buildings have demolished most of the marked areas themselves in areas like Kileleshwa, Kobumunyiri in Kamukunji and Kiruga,” he said.

The National Building Inspectorate chairman Moses Nyakiongera confirmed that demolition of unsafe structures will resume once funding is received from the Treasury.

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