- NCA found that thousands of buildings in Nairobi exist without approval.
- At least 1,217 buildings were found to be fair and only 2,194 were certified as safe.
Collapsing of buildings has become a trend, especially in the capital and other urban regions.
This has led to the destruction of property worth millions, loss of lives, and to some extent unemployment.
On Tuesday, a seven-storey building that was under construction collapsed in Kasarani.
Several people, mostly construction workers were trapped
Poor workmanship and ignorance of the laws are among the leading causes of such incidences.
This is according to a 2020 audit report done by the National Construction Authority on collapsing of buildings.
Research done by NCA in 2018, revealed that the causes of collapsing of buildings were mainly due to technical issues such as substandard materials and lack of quality assurance.
Other factors were ignorance of the laws and regulations, inadequate laws, poor coordination, lack of proper material testing tools, and poor construction supervision, among others
This could indicate that there is a lot of impunity and corruption.
It could also explain why in scenes where buildings have collapsed, some officials go into hiding while some rush to the site and declare them unsafe.
Past incidents even beyond Nairobi, have revealed that a majority of such efforts are rarely prosecuted successfully.
No clear record of any action taken.
NCA report 2020 shows, 10,791 of the buildings were unsafe and either needed to be reinforced before the occupation or demolished.
This was concluded after an assessment was done involving 14,895 buildings.
NCA found that thousands of buildings in Nairobi exist without approval.
At least 1,217 buildings were found to be fair and only 2,194 were certified as safe.
NCA said 723 buildings in the country had been marked as very dangerous.
The report stated 87 buildings collapsed over the past five years while an estimated 200 people have lost their lives and over 1,000 injured as a result.
65 per cent of collapsed buildings were residential while 25 per cent were commercial and 10 per cent were mixed-use developments.
According to NCA, 66 per cent of the building collapsed after completion while 34 per cent collapsed during construction.
The report also states that no action was taken in the case of 12 per cent of the building collapsing while more than 40 per cent of the building collapse cases do not have a clear record of actions.
Only one per cent of the cases have made it to court, following a public outcry while in most cases inconclusive investigations that do not lead to prosecutions are the norm.
It was also reported that more than 700 buildings, mostly in informal settlements, are at a high risk of collapsing and require demolition.