- The contractor was not on site and partitioning works had not been completed.
- The management did not explain the measures put in place to ensure the safety of the building
Image: FILE
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has raised concerns over the safety of a building project being undertaken by the State Department for Trade and Enterprise Development.
In her report for the year ended June 30, 2021, Gathungu said the basement of the Kenya Institute of Business Training (KIBT) offices at Parklands Complex in Nairobi was overflowing with water from underground.
“…the second basement floor of the project was overflowing with water from underground. The Management explained that the water was pumped out regularly to avoid overflows,” Gathungu said in her report.
She said the management did not explain the measures put in place to ensure the safety of the building in view of the current water leakage and moisture on the basement floor.
The report showed that KIBT entered into an agreement with a contractor for the partitioning of offices at Parklands Complex at a contract sum of Sh146.6 million which was to be implemented in six months.
The project commenced on September 17, 2018, and was to end on March 17, 2019.
“Review of the project file revealed that the contractor sought and obtained several extensions of time, with the first being from March 17, 2019, to May 17, 2019, then to June 30, 2019, and thereafter to September 24, 2019,” Gathungu said.
She added that an audit inspection carried out on the project in the month of October 2021 revealed that the contractor was not on site and partitioning works had not been completed.
“No plausible explanation was provided for not completing the project within the duration provided for under the contract. In the Circumstance, the delays may result in cost overrun and delayed occupation of the building by the State Department for purposes of provision of services to the public.”
Poor workmanship has been cited as the leading cause of building collapses in Kenya according to a recent audit report done by the National Construction Authority (NCA) on building collapses in the country.
NCA made the findings following an assessment involving 14,895 buildings.
The assessment found that 10,791 of the buildings were very unsafe and either needed to be demolished or reinforced before occupation.
The finding said a significant number of Kenyans are living on structural time bombs.
Another 1,217 buildings were found to be fair and only 2,194 were certified as safe.
NCA also found that thousands of buildings in Nairobi exist without approval.
In a bid to stem the unfortunate occurrences, President Uhuru Kenyatta in January 2015 commissioned an audit of all buildings in Nairobi and it was found that only 42 per cent of the structures in the city were found fit for habitation.
In the report, the State Department for Trade was further cited for lack of ownership documents for parcels of land in South C, Nairobi.
“Information available and as disclosed under Annex 3 to the financial statements indicates that the State Department owns the Weights and Measures Complex in South C Nairobi, which is built on a parcel of land measuring approximately seven acres of unknown value. However, the ownership documents were not provided for audit review,” she said.
“In the circumstances, it was not possible to confirm the ownership status of the parcel of land in South C Nairobi as of June 30, 2021.”