Why there will be no more demolitions this week

No new buildings will be demolished in Nairobi this week by the Nairobi River Regeneration task force.

The team on Monday said it will now concentrate on flattening structures that were partially brought down last week.

They plan to complete the demolition of Oshwal Centre, Ukay Centre and Southend Mall.

The task force’s operations manager Julius Wanjau yesterday said the partially destroyed buildings posed a danger to residents.

Mr Wanjau also said they have shelved their plan to use explosives to flatten the structures as this would affect neighboring buildings.

“After consulting the Ministry of Mining, we came to the conclusion that the use of explosives would be detrimental to other surrounding buildings. We would rather take our time and complete the demolitions,” he said.

The demolitions, aimed at reclaiming Nairobi River, began last week and are expected to continue for the next two months.

Some 4,000 buildings are targeted.

Last week, Oshwal Centre's perimeter wall was brought down and part of its premises located on riparian land were scheduled to be destroyed yesterday. Wanjau, however, said the task force had given Oshwal’s management four more days to destroy the property.