NAIROBI – Kenyan officials on Saturday stopped the demolition of houses unfit for habitation in Nairobi for seven days as the death toll from the collapsed residential building rose to 49.
Nairobi county governor Evans Kidero said the move will give tenants sufficient time to seek alternative accommodation after some of the houses they had occupied were demolished.
Kidero said so far, some two buildings have been demolished in an exercise which starts on Friday, leaving hundreds of residents homeless.
According to public works permanent secretary Paul Mwangi, 15 other buildings earmarked for demolition were to be brought down today.
“Any land that is within 30 metres from the river should not be developed. Thus, the owner of the collapsed building developed it here illegally. We have five buildings that are set to be demolished on Friday, and 15 others on Monday (today), ” Mwangi told journalists.
The National Construction Authority (NCA) indicated last week that 204 houses would also be demolished in other Nairobi residential areas, including Dagoretti, Umoja, Thika road and South B residential estates.
The move came after a building collapsed in Huruma on 29 April, killing 49 people, with more than 50 others still missing.
