Construction of 2,000 houses in Mombasa halted

MOMBASA: A government agency has stopped construction of 2,000 housing units across the country for flouting safety and building regulations.

National Construction Authority (NCA) said yesterday that it has also filed 20 cases in court against investors in different towns adding that most construction sites were closed down because they were not registered and the projects were not approved.

NCA senior investigations officer Chrispus Ndinyu said the affected buildings were in Nairobi, Machakos, Nakuru, Kiambu, Nyeri, Kisumu, Garissa, Eldoret, Isiolo, Kiambu, Kitengela and Mombasa.

Some of the areas inspected in Nairobi are Lavington, Karen, Huruma, Kileleshwa, Embakasi, Eastlands, Westlands, Lang’ata, Kangemi, Pipeline and Ongata Rongai. NCA warned that the affected investors will be forced to comply with building regulations failure to which they will be prosecuted.

The NCA officials raised the red flag over the rate of compliance for upcoming buildings, estimating it at only 40 per cent as building owners opt for shortcuts to reduce construction costs.

Eng Ndinyu spoke during inspection of buildings in Mombasa where 50 new sites for highrise apartment buildings spread out in upmarket areas including King’orani and Tudor were shut down.

NCA officials scaled the high rise buildings and marked them before declaring them closed until the owners complied with the regulations.

“We are dealing with cases where the projects are not registered and the owners and the building engineers are not displayed as per regulations. The sites are also not enclosed or warning signs displayed on billboards,” Ndinyu said.

However, during a meeting with Mombasa county government officials yesterday, the NCA team was criticised for shutting 50 construction without consulting county authorities.

County Executive Committee member for Physical Planning, Land and Housing Francis Thoya declared the exercise illegal.

“Except for the building sites that will be closed in the presence of our team after our meeting today (Friday) I am going to open up construction sites closed by NCA officials without consulting us. They cannot come here and start closing down construction sites. We are supposed to consult and complement each other,” Mr Thoya said. He said NCA was supposed to write to the county government asking for closure of construction sites that do not meet building regulations.

He however, said the county government would support closure of construction sites that do not meet NCA safety standards after consultations to ensure safety of residents.

At the same time, Thoya opposed the 0.5 per cent of the value of project charged by NCA on developers claiming the levy was not necessary. “This levy has the potential to slow down growth of the construction industry and raise value of property and therefore it should be scrapped,” he said adding he would mobilise developers to refuse paying the levy.

He argued it was necessary for the county government to collect 0.1 per cent of the project value from property developers because it builds roads and sewerage in the residential areas.

Kenya Federation of Master Builders assistant technical director David Jomeli Malidadi welcomed the inspection of buildings by NCA saying this will stop collapse of houses under construction.

He noted that many developers are opting for bogus contractors instead of engaging professionals and in the process comprise standards and endanger lives of construction workers and those using the buildings.

“A fundi is hired at Sh3,000 a day while a contractor engages professional building technicians and adheres to regulations. We support the crackdown by NCA to ensure compliance with the safety regulations.This will in future enable Kenyan contractors compete with Chinese in the construction industry,” Mr Malidadi said.

NCA Coast regional officer Julius Muchiri said owners of the closed construction sites had been served with letters and are supposed to fully comply or face legal action.

“We are not going to allow people to violate construction regulations at will. There are some buildings which are under construction and are already occupied contrary to NCA regulations,” Mr Muchiri said.

But a resident of King’orani Kenneth Amolo blamed NCA for acting too late as most building sites closed were already complete.

“We are wondering why NCA acts too late when buildings are complete. Where were they all this time?” Mr Amolo posed. Ndinyu said construction workers are supposed to put on helmets and should  not sleep at the construction sites.

He noted that a single building engineer supervises up to 20 construction sites at a ago compromising quality of the work.

Ndinyu, however, said NCA lacks adequate staff to enforce compliance across the country.