A five-star hotel in Gigiri was yesterday pulled down by Nairobi county after the owners lost a court case blocking the demolition.
The county government destroyed the multimillion Grand Manor Hotel on grounds that it was a security threat to the American embassy.
The county argued that the hotel was built without inspection as required by law.
Surrounding the hotel along Gigiri Drive is a concrete perimeter wall which is at least three metres high with metallic grills on top. Across the road, the hotel overlooks the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) headquarters.
On its right is the Botswana Embassy, to its left the Morrocan Embassy and right across the road is the American Embassy.
Julius Wanjau, the head of the multi-agency team carrying out the demolitions, said the government had been given the green light by the court to bring down the hotel.
The High Court on Tuesday dismissed an application by Whitehorse Investments Limited who had sought an order prohibiting the city county from entering their premises and demolishing the hotel.
They also wanted the court to set aside the county’s decision to discontinue further development to the construction.
Environment and Land Court judge B.M Eboso said the courts’ findings of the judicial ruling proceedings by Whitehorse were initiated prematurely and in violation of the provisions of the Physical Planning Act and the Fair Administrative Action Act.
Whitehorse in the court papers said it had spent over Sh200 million on the project which was 75 per cent complete. It also said it had paid Sh2.9 million to the county government as inspection fee.
Stanley Fred, security guard with the PG Security firm, said the county officials arrived at the hotel around midnight.
“I was on night shift and at midnight around 50 policemen, five county officials and 10 NYS officers came to the hotel and said they are going to demolish it,” Stanley said.
The demolitions however started at around 6:30am.
“We arrived early because of preparations because if we came in the morning we could have caused a lot of destruction like traffic,” Wanjau said.
However, Wanjau said it would take the county at least up to Monday to completely bring down the building as it is located in a sensitive area and a lot of caution is required.
He further said the team will be heading to Kileleshwa as they have demolition orders for some marked buildings.
“We are coming for all those who have built on public and riparian land. Be prepared,” he said.
At around 9:00 am, a few members of the Kumar family came to the site and pleaded with the multi-agency team and police for more time to remove some properties which were inside the building.
Given at least 30 minutes, the family gathered mattresses, electronics and furniture from the hotel before the Sany bulldozer continued with the demolitions.
Gigiri Village Association chairman Bart Joseph Kibati expressed relief as he watched the demolition in progress.
“When the construction started in 2013, we complained to NEMA and the county government and they came and stopped the construction but they continued laying the foundation,” he said.
Hotel project manager Edwin Momanyi, however, said the Kumar family complied with all the statutory requirements as per CAPs 286 of the Kenyan Constituion, 2010.