Malindi municipal council to bring down illegal buildings

The Municipal Council of Malindi will demolish all buildings built without approval. Malindi mayor Samson Mapinga said the council has already issued notices to the owners of the properties on the demolition. Speaking in his office yesterday, Mapinga said there are many buildings in the resort town that  have been built on road reserves while others have been put in illegally. “There are buildings which did not undergo the legal procedure required by the local authorities and we shall bring them down as they are illegal and do not deserve to be there,’’ he said.

Mapinga blamed the mushrooming of illegal structures in the town on some corrupt council officials. He said a 30-day notice to the areas that will be affected has expired, adding that the demolitions will be carried out soon. “We are not going to tolerate any illegal buildings because it is against the law and will affect the town's future planning,’’ he said. His announcement comes merely a month after another building belonging to a local investor  collapsed while under construction. Several workers escaped death narrowly during the incident which occurred at Sun Park area in the town.

Mapinga said they suspect the former acting used to approve buildings illegally under corrupt ways for his own benefit. “There re rules of the council that require a building to under go approval by council authorities before construction, this one have been ignored that’s why we want to streamline this to prevent any losses in future,’’ he said.

Mapinga said it was dangerous for buildings to be built without care as it could have dire consequences in future particularly when they collapsed with people inside. He asked the local government Ministry to post a new engineer fat the council in order to streamline the operations and enable services to proceed professionally. “The former engineer Mr. Hatmy Nurein Was operating here on acting basis , and was transferred to Lamu , but we are surprised of late he has been coming to the office, this one will not be allowed and want a new engineer to be posted here,’’ he said. Last week the mayor together with the councillors locked out the former Engineer and warned security not to allow him to the council again.