Repaint city buildings, orders Evans Kidero

What you need to know:

  • Owners given one month to paint buildings or face punishment.
  • Safety audit of buildings to start Monday.

Owners of buildings in Nairobi's Central Business District have been given one month to repaint them.

In a statement released on Sunday, the Nairobi County government announced that it had issued a 30 day notice beginning April 13, 2015 for city buildings to be repainted "with a view of improving the buildings' aesthetic value".

"City by-laws provide that every building in the city must be painted and decorated at least once every two years and must remain so without any defacing. Not to abide by this requirement is punishable by law.

"The Public Health Act has conferred powers upon the County Public health officers to inspect premises that are suspected of non-compliance. The County government has therefore put building owners in Nairobi on notice to abide by this directive. After its expiry my officers will take the necessary action to ensure compliance," said Governor Evans Kidero in the statement.

SAFETY AUDIT

The county government will also conduct a building inspection and safety audit from Monday.

"The Nairobi City County government and Ministry teams have been instructed to focus on specific zones with high incidences of illegal developments and larger Eastlands neighbourhoods before proceeding to other parts of the city.

"The Nairobi City County government has teamed up with the National Government, particularly the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (Public Works and the National Construction Authority) in a bid to curb the high incidences of collapsed building structures in the county.

"Developers, occupiers of building structures and the public are advised to accord the county government audit team cooperation for smooth and timely completion of the exercise," read the statement

The audit team, according to the statement, has been divided into groups "comprising respective experts in the built environment in order to focus on commonly known areas where incidences of unauthorised developments are prevalent".

"The audit exercise will run concurrently with enforcement of non-compliant building structures. The county government has decided to step up the exercise to cover the whole city, particularly the ongoing construction and recently completed building structures before a detailed forensic audit is undertaken on building structures which will require further specialized tests,” Governor Kidero said.