Demolition of unsafe buildings will start soon. Nairobi regional coordinator Kangethe Thuku yesterdy said the exercise will involve a multi-agency team.
There are 1,600 unsafe buildings countrywide. Nairobi has 650 with 388 of them in Huruma estate. Last week, a building collapsed in the area and killed three people.
National Building Inspectorate secretary Moses Nyakiongora visited the scene alongside Thuku. "We're putting together the equipment and resources for the demolitions," Thuku told the Star on phone.
More than 20 houses have collapsed in the last
20 years killing over 200 people countrywide.
A building that collapsed on Sunday last week and killed three people was among them.
But residents said the National Building Inspectorate did not share the finding or inform them which buildings are unsafe therefore they have continued living in death traps unaware.
The owner had removed the demolition notice from the building.
More than 20 houses have collapsed in the last
20 years killing over 200 people countrywide.
There has never been a single conviction of landlords, developers, planners and engineers involved in construction of deathtraps and all continue to escape criminal liability, despite tough talk by authorities.
No one ever been found culpable for causing deaths by professional negligence.
The first tragedy of building collapse was witnessed in Nairobi in January 1996 -when the veranda roof of Sunbeam building along Moi Avenue, Nairobi caved in killing 35 people.
In January 2006, a building under construction along Ronald Ngala, Nairobi, caved in killing 17 construction workers.
At least 85 people have been killed in in the death traps since the collapses intensified from December 2014 when a five storey building collapsed in Makongeni estate in Nairobi killing seven people.
On January 4, 2015, a building collapsed in Huruma estate and killed five tenants.
A building under construction in Roysambu, Nairobi caved in on April 2, 2015 killing seven people.
The South B Mosque's wall collapsed under heavy rains killing 10 people on May 10, 2015.
But the most notable one remains a six storey building that caved in on April 28 killing 51 and injuring over 100.
Three people died the following day after a perimeter wall collapsed on pedestrians along Lenana road near the Department of Defense headquarters.
President Uhuru Kenyatta set up the NBI and tasked it with auditing and demolishing all unsafe buildings and ensuring defective buildings were regularised because of the rampant collapses.
The audit revealed that there are more than 1, 600 unsafe buildings in the country.
Out of the 1, 600, 650 are in Nairobi and 388 of them are in Huruma estate.
The NBI embarked on demolitions in Zimmerman, Nairobi on March 21 this year, but stopped the following day after pulling down only two buildings unsafe buildings.
On Monday last week, the NBI
Secretary Moses Nyakiongora, Nairobi regional coordinator
Kangethe Thuku and police commander Joseph Ole Tito visited Huruma where a building collapsed the previous day killing three.They assured residents that demolitions will begin in three days but no single structure has been demolished.
Yesterday, Thuku said they are held up by planning and the exercise will begin "very soon".
"There is a multi-agency committee involved, there is a lot of planning going on - putting together the equipment, looking for resources and all those things," Thuku said on phone.
In a past interview, Nyakiongora has blamed the judicial system for not punishing a single owner of a collapsed building since 1996.
Nyakiongora said it is regrettable that there has never been a single conviction following the tragedies.
He said only jail terms will stop unscrupulous builders.