50,000 houses to be demolished

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero during a press conference at City Hall on September 1, 2015. PHOTO | JAMES EKWAM |

What you need to know:

  • Governor gives developers six months to have structural plans sanctioned.
  • The buildings have failed to get approval from City Hall under new regulations.

More than 50,000 buildings in Nairobi are to be demolished for failing to get City Hall’s approval.

Governor Evans Kidero has, however, given developers six months to have their architectural and structural plans approved by the city housing and planning department to comply with national building regulations.

This follows the passing of a law which requires every construction in Nairobi to get City Hall’s approval. It was enacted by the county government after some buildings collapsed and others showed signs of weakness.

On Wednesday, developers flocked City Hall to obtain approvals.

“I constructed my five storey commercial building in 1999 but there were no title deeds and we only had share certificates from a land buying company that sold the property to us,” a developer at Thome Estate, Mr David Kimani, told the Nation.

Without a valid title deed, a developer cannot get the nod to put up a building in the city. Mr Kimani said they could not wait for the documents.

Architectural firms are asking for more than Sh200,000 to draw architectural drawings to comply with the regulations, he said.

“What we used to do before was to have a simply sketched drawing but now they want drawings that comply with the required standards.”

HASTEN ISSUANCE

Over 50,000 buildings have not complied with the regulations in Embakasi, Kasarani, Ruai, Lang’ata and Eastlands, according to Dr Kidero.

With the new regulations, developers are anxious over whether or not they will get approvals at City Hall, whose housing and planning officers are known to be corrupt.

However, Dr Kidero promised that his government would hasten the issuance of title deeds to people who bought properties from land buying companies.

“The law has stipulated that one must hold a title to have their projects approved and issued with a development permit and the county is working to ensure that they get their titles,” he told journalists in his office on Tuesday.

The county government would also send engineers to assist in approving the buildings, he added.

People seeking fresh approvals for their properties, the governor said, would be charged as if they were applying for a development permit and they will first be required to pay outstanding land rates.