Authority re-marks unsafe building in Nairobi’s CBD
The National Construction Authority (NCA) has remarked an unsafe building under construction at the junction of Kenyatta Avenue and Kimathi Street within Nairobi’s CBD after the owner hired painters to cover up initial ‘X’ marks.
The authority had on Friday inspected the works and suspended construction after findings of a shoddy job on the building which made it a disaster in waiting.
After marking the building and leaving, the owner had painters come and cover up the markings using silver painting, a move that the authority termed as illegal and called on the police to act.
On Monday morning, officers from the authority remarked the building and once again reported the matter to the police for enforcement.
Contrary to the Friday events, there were no workers at the site and sources intimated that construction work stopped on Sunday and workers had moved unused bags of cement on Monday morning.
SUSPECT WORK
The suspension certificate from the authority shared with Nairobi News had stated that no construction work ought to go on as the site is dangerous for skilled workers.
“It was found out that the project is not registered by National Construction Authority. There was no registered contractor on site. The quality of work according to the opinion of the inspection officers was suspect. According to the officers’ observation, the structural strength of the building is highly questionable,” read the report compiled by the team that visited the site.
The authority also noted that “the concrete was not vibrated well during casting and there was no adequate supervision and the workers seemed to know very little of what they were doing.”
In its report the authority included photos of sagging beams and slab members as well as columns that were partially submerged in water as construction went on.