Nairobi News

NewsWhat's Hot

Foreman of unsafe building in Nairobi’s CBD arrested

By LILLIAN MUTAVI November 29th, 2016 2 min read

The construction foreman of a building at the junction of Kenyatta Avenue and Kimathi Street has been arrested and charged in court.

Julius Gikonyo Kagwa, was arrested on Friday and charged at the City Hall court with “erecting a building structure without approved plans.” Mr Kagwa was later on the same day released on a Sh30,000 cash bail.

The Nairobi County government also ordered that construction at the site be stopped and satisfactory plans be submitted for approval.

The developer is also required to provide a detailed structural integrity report for the structure.

The orders came as the National Construction Authority marked the building for non-compliance and suspended construction works.

In a report compiled by the Nairobi Region team that visited the site and signed by the regional officer Crispus Ndinyo, the authority noted that the quality of the building was questionable.

STRUCTURAL STRENGTH

“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 that the authority sent to Nairobi News.

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.

Nairobi lands County Executive Christopher Khaemba on Monday said that the owner of the building had been issued with one week notice after which it will be demolished.

“We have been marking X the building after we realized it had structural defect and we gave the owner seven days before demolition begins,” Mr Khaemba said.