Kiambu County using old building code to rein in uncontrolled development

Kiambu Governor Williams Kabogo and KRA commissioner in-charge of Domestic Taxes Benson Korongo exchange signed documents after signing an MoU between the two organizations.The MoU with KRA will help the county collect property and single business permit fees. The partnership will also enable the county to leverage on KRa’S iTax platform to collect revenue through any of their 37 banks as well as through mobile transfer.PHOTO BY KAMAU MAICHUHIE.

On November 29, 1968, the Minister for Local Government at the time, Lawrence Sagini, signed into law the Local Government Building Order.

Although the document has been in use for close to 50 years, its provisions continue to be flouted by developers who either are ignorant of the regulations or who collude with those in the know.

According to Section 17 of the Building Code, every domestic building shall be built in a manner that leaves at least 20 feet (six metres) in front of it or from the street or public space. That space, adds the code, shall contain no other structure except a wall, fence or gate.

Section 18 adds that the sides of such a house shall be eight feet or more from the nearest plot.

Modelled after the British construction system of the 1960s, the code presents challenges to plot owners who find such provisions too prohibitive in this era of skyrocketing property costs.

Despite the apprehension, a number of counties have not hesitated to forcefully implement the code in a bid to rein in unregulated developments.

Kiambu County is one such region where officials are determined to make sure that buyers of small plots adhere to the code despite the latter’s efforts to utilise every available space on the plot.

According to County Chief Officer for Land, Housing and Physical planning David Gatimu, developers had better follow these provisions or ship out of the county.

“The regulations were enacted to standardise construction in all regions. We have internalised the code in our Spatial Planning Bill 2015. Developers better observe these rules or regret later,” he said.

According to Mr Gatimu, no building or construction approvals will be given where the owner fails to comply with these regulations.

 HIGH COST

Gatimu however admitted that the high cost of land in the country may have contributed to the non-compliance of such regulations.

For example, he said a developer who buys a 50 by 100 feet plot to build residential units may be eager to recoup his initial investment by utilising every inch of the plot.

Enforcing the regulations is a tall order. There are those who comply and those who oppose them, saying the code is outdated.

Apart from leaving open spaces in front and beside houses, the code states that no back-to-back residential buildings are allowed.

The code defines a back-to-back dwelling as one “with only one external wall containing door or windows, two parallel walls containing no doors or windows or one in which no through (cross) ventilation cannot be obtained”.

According to Gatimu, this state of affairs has rendered some residential areas uninhabitable because “one cannot open a window without it touching the wall of the neighbour”.

PROSPECTIVE TENANTS

So what will happen to those who have already flouted the rules?

“Well, we may not necessarily demolish the structures. However, they will soon become unlivable for prospective tenants. Some structures seem not to have been constructed with humans in mind. The market will just drive such people out of business,” he says.

Peter Kibinda, a long serving urban planner, said the county was taking a step in the right direction as far as planning for future growth was concerned.

Still, he said the counties must do more to provide social amenities as another step towards regulating land development.

He cites some areas in Ruaka where a very narrow alley is the only access to a flat with 80 to 100 units sitting on a quarter acre where not even a fire engine can pass with ease.

In other areas, developers on small plots dig one pit latrine to be used by dozens of people, creating a health hazard “since the plot is not connected to a sewer line”.