NCA Executive Director assures Kenyans that all structures will meet standards prior to construction

A few days after tenants of a residential apartment in Kinoo, Kiambu County were evacuated after a five-storey building collapsed leaning on a nearby flat,National Construction Authority (NCA) has maintained that stringent measures are already in place to help curb such cases.

According to the NCA boss Maurice Akech ,efforts are already in place to weed out quarks and put an end to shoddy works in the local construction industry, which had remained unregulated since 1986 when Parliament disbanded the National Construction Corporation.

“We are authorised to keep a register of all construction works happening across the country. It is the duty of a developer to register their projects with us failure to which we will not sanction their operations.Erecting a building without NCA’s approval is a criminal offence and going forward we will ensure any structure before construction observes tight requirements in a bid to tame unnecessary collapsing” he said.

The Kinoo building whose construction was about 70 per cent at the time it tilted had been approved by the National Construction Authority (NCA) having received prior statutory approvals from Kiambu county.

This becomes the latest case of tilting building months to completion of its construction after a five-storey structure was demolished after partially collapsing in September last year.

Akech has further assured area residents especially those staying near the adjacent building that their safety is NCA’s top priority and will not be compromised. Joint and coordinated efforts are underway to ensure safety of the surrounding is not affected.

“Efforts are in top gear to ensure the safety of adjacent buildings and surrounding development .The site of the incident has been cordoned off by the National Police Service, county officials, National Building Inspectorate, National Disaster Management unit among others,” Aketch further stated.

Constituted under the Act No. 41 of 2011 after intense lobbying by stakeholders, the National Construction Authority (NCA) plays a key role of regulating the Kenyan construction industry.

The National Construction Authority Act took effect on December 2, 2011 after former President Mwai Kibaki assented to the Bill. It was operationalised on June 8, 2012.

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