Players blame high costs for mess in building industry

A bulldozer demolishes unfit homes in Huruma in an area where the collapse of a building killed at least 42 people last month. [PHOTO: WILBERFORCE OKWIRI/STANDARD]

 

Too many levies have been heaped on the construction industry, which are driving up the cost of putting up buildings. This in turn leads developers to hire cheap and rogue contractors who do shoddy work and are responsible for the many sub-standard buildings that keep collapsing.

This is according to the Institute of Quantity Surveyors of Kenya (IQSK) Chairman Andrew Mandere, who led his fellow contractors in addressing the issue of collapsing buildings at a Nairobi hotel yesterday. He was referring to the recently collapsed building in Huruma.

“Numerous levies like the National Construction Authority (NCA) levy, the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) levy and many others charged both by the county and national governments are responsible for the high costs. I want to say none of our professionals were responsible for the collapsed buildings. Instead, this was the work of untrained quacks who come cheap to beat the high costs,” Mr Mandere said. The IQSK chair also called on the Government to stop being reactionary by acting when buildings collapse, and look for preventive measures first.

Mandere claimed the country has no maintenance policy, which forces building owners to repair their buildings after some time, and this is a major reason why many collapse.

“One of the greatest tragedies involving collapsed buildings happened when Sunbeam supermarket went down. That building had not been repaired for many years. It is sad that even after that incident, the government is yet to come up with a policy that forces owners to maintain their buildings,” Mandere said.

He also added that the current law that regulates architects and surveyors is too old and inhibits innovation among the younger breed of professionals. These professionals have been exposed to modern, tech-savvy ways of construction, which the law does not allow.

“The current legislation governing the practice of surveyors and architects was passed in 1934. Parliament is yet to review it to this day, and yet its provisions have become outdated. They are too old-fashioned to accommodate today’s innovative methods,” Mandere said.

The IQSK chair also blamed the rampant corruption in government for bringing the construction industry down. He cited the fact that construction contributes 14 per cent of the GDP, yet government officials have turned public projects into cash cows and are milking them dry. This in turn brings construction costs up, since the officials inflate the prices in order to skim the profits.

Mandere also called on the Government to abolish VAT on materials that construct cheap houses for the poor so as to eliminate the problem of homelessness especially for city residents in informal settlements.

“Social housing is one of the key goals for Vision 2030. Low costs of materials will enable the industry to construct cheap houses and achieve this goal. This will happen when the Government abolishes VAT on these materials,” Mandere averred.