Members of Parliament want Nairobi Dam to be decommissioned to save Seefar Apartments in Nyayo Highrise.
The legislators said the dam is no longer useful and should be destroyed instead of demolishing the buildings as ordered by the National Environment Management Authority and Water Resources Authority.
“It was resolved that the Ministry of Environment immediately writes to the County Government of Nairobi issuing a notice of decommissioning of the Nairobi Dam as it was not serving the original intended purpose,” reads a report by National Assembly Environment Committee.
The panel, chaired by Maara MP Kareke Mbiuki, had been studying the matter since October last year when Nema and WRA issued demolition notice.
The committee also directed the Ministry of Environment to convene an inter-agency task force to assess the immediate safety issues of the dam and its remedy within a week and report back to it.
“... Environment CAS Mohamed Elmi ensures that a comprehensive report by a multi-agency technical committee detailing the safety of Nairobi Dam vis a vis the residents of the Seefar Apartments and the surrounding area,” says the report.
The report was tabled in the Chamber by National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale last Thursday.
Nema and WRA had argued that the apartments – three blocks of 12 floors –were standing on the riparian reserve of both the Nairobi Dam and Ngong River.
WRA CEO Mohammed Shuriye said, on behalf of the Ministry of Water, that there was "imminent threat to lives, environment and property due to the likelihood of Nairobi Dam breaking."
He said that the dam’s embankments had been weakened by excavation and construction works of the apartments.
A similar position was taken the Ministry of Environment who argued that Edermann Property Limited, the contractor of the buildings, failed to adhere to the conditions set out to protect the dam by maintaining a 30-metre reserve from the water bodies.
“It was observed that Edermann Property had encroached into the riparian reserve of the Nairobi Dam as well as Ngong River," CAS Elmi said when he appeared before the panel.
But in the report, the committee faulted Nema and WRA, saying that their notices were ‘wanting’ since the same entities gave approvals for the construction of the apartments.
“There was manifest laxity and lack of diligence among some officers at Nema and WRA since it had taken too long to establish the alleged encroachment on the riparian zone,” Mbiuki said in the report.
Moreover, the MPs observed that the dam is not operational as it has been choked by vegetation including hyacinth and thus should be done away with.
“It was serving as a sewage repository from the neighbouring residents,” Mbiuki says in the report.
The MPs noted that occupants of the apartments were endangered in case of the collapse of the dam as the building is downstream.
The apartments are along Mbagathi Road in Nyayo Highrise ward that borders Kibera slums. The 288 apartments were built in 2011 and bought on mortgage from financial institutions.
The committee was petitioned by the homeowners after the notices by Nema and WRA. The homeowners, through chairman Paul Peter Otieno, argued that the construction was approved by the same agencies that issued demolition notice.
“Seefar community was horrified by the notices that were issued by the staff of Nema and WRA to the developer of this building and writings put on the walls on Friday, October 12, 2018,” Otieno said in the petition.
The residents argued that a survey that they commissioned to ascertain the distance between the buildings to the dam’s highest water mark was 42 metres and not less 30 metres as stated by WRA and Nema.
“This was way outside the level of the spillway by the Physical Planning Act, Section 15(c) Environment Management Act and the Survey Act,” he said.
