A third building collapsed in Kiambu County in less than two months, putting the county lands, housing and physical planning docket on the spot on how approvals are done.
In Sunday’s incident, a nine storey building that was under construction in Ruiru, near Tatu City, collapsed. Luckily, no workers were on site.
“The house collapsed at around 3am, initially I thought it was an earthquake and what followed was a huge dust storm that engulfed our apartment that is next to the collapsed building. The construction of this building started over five months ago,’’ Ms Jane Wanjiru, an area resident told Nation.Africa.
The county government officials said they were aware of the incident and were liaising with the National Construction Authority to find out what may have gone wrong.
“We confirm that a 9-floor building under construction collapsed at 3am this morning, there were no casualties. The DCIO has condoned off the scene and people in the neighbouring building have been evacuated as a safety precaution. Currently, a team comprising the county government of Kiambu, National Construction Authority, and Kenya Police Service are at the site. We are waiting for representatives from Engineers Board of Kenya, National Building Inspectorate), Directorate of Occupational Safety & Health Services to carry out further investigation,’’ Kiambu County government said in a statement.
Ruiru DCIO Justus Ombati told Nation.Africa that the matter was being investigated to ascertain if the developer had met all the construction regulatory approvals.
The owner of the collapsed building identified as John Mwangi told Nation.Africa that he had met all the requirements from the relevant bodies.
Locals said the building was hurriedly constructed and that floor slabs were not given enough time to dry before moving to the next floor.
On August 31, this year, a five storey building that was under construction collapsed in Gachie, Kiambu County, killing five people. Last month, another building collapsed in Kinoo.
