County to demolish 282 condemned houses starting Monday

The demolition of buildings declared unsafe for habitation in the city will resume next week after a one week grace period given by the Nairobi County Government to occupants to seek alternative accommodation expires Saturday.

According to the Ministry of Housing, Public Works Department Director of Administration George McGoye, there will be no compromise on the buildings declared unfit for human occupation.

McGoye also says all buildings on riparian land including the one next to Tmall Shopping Center along Langata Road and Ukay Center that houses Nakumatt Ukay will be demolished.

The exercise that is set to begin next week will also affect structures that have been built on riparian lands regardless of their soundness.

This comes just two weeks after a six storey building collapsed killing 51 people and injuring several others in Huruma estate in Nairobi.

Just recently, a building in Westlands housing the Nakumatt Ukay Supermarket suffered flooding and destruction of goods on the shelves, attention now turning to such buildings built on wetlands.

About 226 buildings in Nairobi County that do not meet construction standards have been earmarked for demolition

Early this month, the building inspectorate secretary in the Public Works Ministry, Moses Nyakiohoro, told Citizen Digital that so far 2,601 buildings have been inspected in a bid to clear the county of dangerous structures.

Institute of Engineers of Kenya chair Eng Michael Okonji also accused private developers of using shortcuts by hiring quacks during construction and ignoring licensed engineers.