Demolitions will restart but not any time soon because of the need for consultations and landscaping, a Nairobi Regeneration Task-force official has said.
“Demolitions are not over. We will be back as we had listed approximately 4,000 buildings, structures and even facilities on riparian land in Nairobi that are up for demolition,” Nairobi Regeneration Task-force operations manager Julius Wanjau said yesterday.
He said several buildings have been marked for demolitions in Lavington and Kileleshwa. He said the team is landscaping in areas where they had demolished last year.
Demolitions started in August last year when the team brought down Shell petrol station in Kileleshwa, along with Java restaurant and an apartment block.
“Currently, we are at South End Mall and levelling is in progress. All the debris that had been left behind at Mbagathi Road has been cleared,” Wanjau said. The Sh1 billion South End Mall was pulled down in August last year after authorities said it was built on Ngong River bed.
National Building Inspectorate agency chairman Moses Nyakiongora also said the budget factor is also an important aspect in the whole programme.
Parks will be created, and trees and grass planted.
The Ukay Centre was also reduced to rubble for being on a riparian land. In September, Airgate Centre, popularly known as Taj Mall in Embakasi was pulled down. It was on a road reserve. The last demolitions by the multi-agency team was last month in which the five-storey, Grand Manor Hotel in Gigiri was demolished.