Construction Approvals Suspended in Nairobi as MET Warns of Heavier Rains

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has announced radical reforms concerning the construction of new buildings in the city in a bid to avert disasters that may occur owing to the heavy rains and flooding that have affected most parts of the city.

Speaking in a press briefing on Wednesday, April 24, Sakaja announced that the county government is banning all pending building development approvals in a bid to prevent the collapse of major infrastructure affected by the heavy downpour.

“We have halted all pending development approvals for now until we review all those that are issued and are continuing across the city,” he announced.

At the same time, the county boss announced that his administration was banning all excavations within Nairobi County with immediate effect.

“We have done away with excavations at the sites, all sites especially those along riparian areas, with immediate effect,” he added.

“All excavations of buildings especially those that have gone close to their neighbours have been stopped forthwith because the structural integrity of the buildings cannot be assured at this time.”

The governor announced this following pressure by activists to stop approving buildings within the capital city which did not meet the required urban planning codes.

Earlier, he maintained that the construction of high-rise buildings in the posh residential areas that include Kilimani, Kileleshwa and Lavington would continue, with permits being issued to contractors that would allow them to build up to 75 storeys tall.

“I have heard people complaining that in areas of Kileleshwa and Lavington, our homes were one-storey now apartments have come. Nairobi is 696 square kilometres in 2050 it will have a population of 10.5 million people,” he addressed during a church service in Bahati last month.

“Will we expand Nairobi? No the only place we have to go is up. The only thing we have to do is fix sewerage, water and drainage.”

However, the heavy downpour the following month rendered a series of the leafy suburbs uninhabitable, with the effects particularly felt in Kilimani, where residents of the affluent Elite Court along Ole Odume Road were forced to evacuate their homes.

On Wednesday, April 24, a number of Kenyans were unable to make it to work after heavy rains resulted in a blockage of major roads and floods in residential areas. 

Some of the hardest hit areas in the Nairobi region include Juja where a section of Thika Road was closed off from heavy floods, the Eastern Bypass, Mwiki, UN Avenue, Athi River where the river broke its banks, the CBD where several trees fell along Moi Avenue. 

In Ruaka, Syokimau, Ruiru, and Mathare, residents have been displaced after floods swept into residential houses. Rescue efforts are ongoing.

Meanwhile, the Kenya Meteorological Department has warned Kenyans to brace for more rainfall from Thursday through to Friday.

“Expect continued rainfall across various parts of the country as indicated in the rainfall forecast maps for 24th April to 1st May. Heavy to Very Heavy events are likely in Highlands East/West of Rift Valley, Lake Victoria Basin, Rift Valley, South-eastern lowlands, Coast, North-western, and North-eastern Kenya,” the weatherman stated.