All buildings to be inspected every five years, says Kaimenyi

All buildings, including homes, will be inspected every five years to ensure they are safe for habitation.

This will include making sure that the buildings are properly maintained in a new move to curb rising cases of collapsing buildings.

Lands and Housing Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi on Wednesday said buildings would be inspected for any structural or visual defects.

Every building will have to be registered as well and certified as friendly to physically challenged persons as the government rolls out new laws to  regulate the construction industry.

Developers will be allowed to use cheaper but durable materials to reduce the cost of housing.

“The government will also get more involved in providing infrastructure, such as roads, water and sewerage and lighting to cut construction costs,” Prof Kaimenyi said.

The laws regulating the housing industry at the moment were developed in the 1960s, and the government says they are now outdated and lacking in new technologies.

“The current building code of 1968 is outdated and inconsistent with the Constitution. The reviewed code is performance-based and it addresses issues relating to technology, renewable energy, security and planning as well as disaster management,” said Prof Kaimenyi.

SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

It is expected that  use of new  technology will make it much cheaper and faster to build houses.

The government has also partnered with several organisations to provide social infrastructure such as roads and sewerage in areas that do not have them to further lower the cost of putting up houses.

“The decision to allow new technology is very welcome because it will significantly reduce the amount of time needed to put up a house, hence making houses cheaper. With technology, you can finish a project even within a month, while traditional brick and mortar takes 12 to 18 months to construct,” said Ms Sakina Hassanali, the research and marketing manager for HassConsult Kenya, a real estate  company.

Provision of social infrastructure would cut the cost of construction by up to 30 per cent.

“Poor infrastructure is a bottleneck for developers because it means they must construct social amenities thatpush up the cost of housing. If the government takes up construction of such amenities, building costs will go down,” she said.

These changes are meant to address the perennial housing shortage by making homes more affordable, especially for low to middle-income earners.