Looming bloodbath at a floating city skyscraper built on a sewer line

Fears of tragedy of immeasurable magnitude best describes the lurking danger within the precincts of a five storey city skyscraper allegedly built on a sewer line all attributed to rogue Nairobi County government officials and an unscrupulous private developer, investigations by The Informer have revealed.

Electronic Digital Center, a towering commercial building along Luthuli Avenue within the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) and which is fully occupied to the top floor is feared to have a free flowing sewer line underneath.

Our three-month long investigations have unearthed a web of cartel running the Nairobi County Housing and Planning department, officials from the Ministry of Transport, Housing Infrastructure and Public Works, Building Inspectorate, Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NSCSC) alongside their accomplices from the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) minting millions to shield illegal developers while exposing tens of lives and their property to grave danger.

At the ground floor of the building which is a potential scene of crime awaiting to happen, well concealed gazing manhole covers with openings large enough for a person to pass through can be mistaken for emergency underground escape access vault where raw sewer runs through.

According to tenants who operate business premises within the building, raw sewer spills over the manhole covers during the rainy season due to constant blockages of the sewer line beneath.

The owner of the building is identified as Patrick Karanu, a city private developer-cum- electrical dealer at the Nairobi’s downtown area of Nyamakima.

When contacted for comment, he did not respond to our queries. “Yes it is true the building sits on a sewer line.

We always have problems during the rainy season due to raw sewage that spills over the manhole covers save for the bad odor emanating from beneath.

Karanu owns this building and another in Nyamakima that was partially demolished but later constructed again controversially. He has pocketed all the officials,” our source intimated.

When contacted, Karanu declined to comment on the matter but instead requested for office directions but he never showed up. “Please send me the office directions I will come. Give me some time.” Karanu retorted when contacted.

This exposé comes against the backdrop of a planned structural audit of private commercial and residential buildings in the city in which at least 600 condemned structures are set for demolition by the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) headed by Major General Mohamed Badi.

The audit comes in the wake of rising cases of building collapse in the country due to lack of structural integrity rendering most of them unsafe.

In the past, a report by a taskforce and a team of investigators formed to undertake forensic investigations into at least 200 buildings whose construction approvals were deemed questionable revealed a total of 400 buildings out of the audited 3,914 buildings in Huruma alone have failed structural test and thus should be demolished.

In August 2016, three people were killed after a wall collapsed and trapped them underneath while digging trenches along Brookside Drive in Nairobi’s Westlands.

This has put officials from the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK), Building Inspectorate under the State Department of Public Works, The Association of Consulting Engineers of Kenya (ACEK), Planners Association of Kenya and Nema on the spot over alleged collusion with unscrupulous developers.

An interview with the General Manager of the National Construction Authority (NCA) Eng. Maurice Akech has upscaled the crackdown on illegal buildings.

He notes that the Ministry of Interior has given the agency a police unit to deal with issues emanating from poor construction.

For the last two months, the agency has been able to expedite cases with ease due to the additional help. The NCA boss further warns developers to abide by the rule of law to avoid losing investments worth millions.

“We have buildings under construction, those we continuously monitor. That is why when we come across a building that is non- compliant, we close it down until the developer complies with the regulations.

This way we have been able to mitigate a number of incidences that might have been caused by non-compliant buildings.

But why would a developer want to collude with City officials and then lose investments worth millions in the future considering that he can’t go back to the same askaris when we come calling for demolitions?” Akech said

Recently, the government ordered the National Building Inspectorate (NBI) to demolish thousands of buildings that were declared unsafe for occupation in various parts of the country.

This follows a 2018 audit by the NBI, covering 14,895 buildings, which classified 723 structures as dangerous, 10,791 unsafe, and 1,217 fair – with 2,194 buildings declared safe.

Over 600 buildings, mainly in Eastlands, were found to be at a high risk of collapse. The audit identified Huruma as the estate with most dangerous buildings – totalling 388.

Other areas with dangerous houses include Thika Road (85), Pipeline (65), Babadogo (38), Umoja (18), Dagoretti (16), Nairobi West (9), and South B (5).

Common defects identified in buildings within these areas include structural weakness, uneven staircases and poor ventilation due to improper erection of the structures.

Shoddy workmanship and lack of professional supervision have been identified as the main causes of building collapses in Kenya, with two thirds of buildings collapsing after completion and a third during construction.

Eighty-seven cases of building collapses have occurred in the country over the past five years – claiming the lives of about 200 people and injuring more than 1,000 individuals.