Six-storey building under construction collapse in Oloolua, Kajiado county
A six-storey building under construction in Oloolua, Kajiado county, has collapsed.
The building collapsed at around 7:30 pm yesterday injuring one passer-by, who was taken to the hospital before being discharged.
However, the Deputy County Commissioner of Kajiado North Sub County, there was no one in the building at the time of the incident.
He also stated that investigations have commenced and assured that necessary action will be taken.
This comes after another six-storey building collapsed in Kiambu leaving five people dead.
The cause of this collapse was unclear but the building was under construction when it came down. It collapsed at 05:30, before any builders had arrived to start work.
Eyewitnesses said it fell onto adjacent homes, which is where most of the victims are thought to have been.
Building collapses in Kenya have in the past been blamed on poor structural design or sloppy construction.
The National Construction Authority (NCA) said that they did not authorise the construction of the multi-story building insisting that they had stopped the project in April.
The Institute of Engineers of Kenya and Public Works Principal Secretary pointed the tragedy to poor workmanship that also led to seven other buildings collapse in the county in recent time.
Kiambu governor Kimani Wamatangi called out the constructor of the building saying that despite being denied authorization, he still went ahead with the construction.
“The building that was being put up here was being done in an extremely substandard way. This guy built without authorisation. He came and applied for permission, he was told to comply with a few conditions, he disappeared, continued to build,” he said.
