Nairobi governor Mike Sonko has maintained the multi-billion shillings Oshwal Centre will be demolished because it is on a riparian land.
Sonko on Friday said it sits on top of the river and will not be spared in the ongoing demolitions. The governor said the regeneration committee has recommended demolition of about 4,000 buildings which are either on riparian land or along the Nairobi River.
“We have already issued a notice to Oshwal management to vacate their property. We don’t want to be malicious, we shall give them enough time to remove their belongings,” he said. “We want to be as humane to avoid subjecting people to more losses”.
Taj Mall
Sonko also reiterated that part of Taj Mall along Outering Road will also be brought down. He said the court had issued an order stopping the demolition, which has now lapsed.
Located at the intersection of Outer Ring Road, North Airport Road and Airport South Road, Taj Mall had been the subject of controversy since 2012. The Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) had said part of the building sits on a road reserve and marked it for demolition to pave way for Outer Ring Road expansion.
After the owner, Rameshchandra Gorasia, threatened to sue the government for compensation, KURA revealed that it had redesigned the eastern bypass to circumvent the building. The mall has now been renamed Airgate Centre.
But Kenyans have raised their voice about the building especially after the demolition of Southend Mall in Lang’ata. Southend mall was destroyed on Wednesday morning by a Multi-agency government team led by NEMA.
Sonko’s statement comes as police say they have launched a manhunt for National Environment Management Authority and county officers who approved the buildings.
Police spokesperson Charles Owino said a special team has been formed to receive complaints on approvals.
A new Dawn for Kenya?
Past efforts to reclaim riparian land have often been thwarted by influential businessmen and politically-connected tycoons with an eye for serene river and road reserves.
But it is the defiant construction of palatial residences in Spring Valley along Lower Kabete road that epitomizes the government’s unsuccessful efforts to deter and demolish illegal structures on riparian land and road reserves.
The developer, Sound Equipment Ltd built houses on a two-hectare land which is a riparian land of Mathare River that cuts across the valley.
The construction which started in 2007 stopped in 2009 following protests by activists led by he late Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai.
It, however, resumed in 2013 only to stop temporarily again in early 2015 after then Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu intervened.
However, construction has been going on furtively and the houses are nearing completion.
The demolition of buildings on wetlands or road reserves has been dogged with controversy over the years.
Often the government is browbeaten into abandoning eviction plans by public protests or the cost of destruction.
But with wanton grabbing of public utilities land and encroachment on riparian areas rising by the day, conservationists and urban planners have raised alarm that the city will choke when weather patterns turn unusual as happened in the first half of this hear.
Article 67 of the Constitution says riparian land is public land hence not available for allocation to anyone, while Article 62 says all rivers, lakes as defined by an act of parliament, and all land between high and low water marks are public land.
Whether the government will carry through the current operation remains to be seen. In the past, the government has halted demolitions due to public outcry, varied road plans or abandoned developments altogether for political expediency.
While the authorities have outlawed some of the construction, in some cases officials have colluded with the developers to sanction works behind the scenes. In some cases, City Council inspectors would raid construction sites and cart away implements, but work would resume in the night until structures are completed.
A wetland along Limuru Road next to the Village Market has recently been fenced off by a developer while in Spring Valley along Lower Kabete Road a developer is building ten houses on a two-hectare land which is a riparian of Mathare River that cuts across the valley.