Dar yet to demolish condemned building

By James Kandoya

A man walks past a building along Indira Gandhi Street in downtown Dar es Salaam on Monday. The building, which is lined up for demolition allegedly for being substandard.

The Ilala Municipal Council is still not decided on whether to demolish a condemned building that was ordered to be pulled down after another nearby edifice collapsed last year killing dozens of people and injuring several others.


The Acting Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, Raymond Mushi, told The Guardian over the phone that municipal experts are still working to establish the total cost of demolishing the building.

However, he did not say when the process will come to an end – but only promised that the building is to be demolished by all means.

“The owner refused to demolish the building and he battled it out in courts after the order to pull it down was issued but we defeated him. It is expensive to pull down the building but we are evaluating the costs and look for a firm to later carry out the special activity that needs to be handled with care,” he said.

“The owner of the building will have to cover the costs of demolishing it,” Mushi said while promising to disclose more information on Friday.

In May last year Ilala Municipality issued a one-week demolition notice to the owner of the building opposite the 16-storey collapsed erection along Indira Gandhi Street in the city.

This was after the latter building crumbled on it weight on March 29, last year.

Jerry Slaa, the Ilala Municipal Mayor told a press conference by then that the decision to issue the demolition notice was reached after a meeting with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Lands, Natural Resources and Environment held in Dodoma.

Before the demolition was effected, however, the owner of the ill-fated building decided to take the matter to court challenging the municipality order.

Of course the municipality won the battle and the decision to demolish the building now remains intact, he said.

According to Mushi, the building was deemed substandard and hence the municipal council’s fear that the worse might happen, hence the decision to demolish it.

On Friday 29 march, 2013 the 16-storey building collapsed next to Shia Ithnaashery Mosque along Indira Ghandi and Asian street resulting to several deaths and casualties.

According to Dar es Salaam Regional Special Police Zone Commander Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police (SACP) Suleiman Kova at least 36 people died including workers at the construction site, while some were injured.

Gabriel Fuime, the former Ilala Municipal executive director, businessman Razah Ladha and two officers from the Architects and Quantity Surveyors Registration Board (AQRB), Albert Mnuo, an assistant registrar and Joseph Ringo, a principal enforcement officer are facing murder cases related to the collapse of the building.

Others in the case are Charles Ogape, Zonazea Anage and Mohamed Abdukar, who are engineers and Vedasto Ferdinand, a quantity surveyor, Michael Hemed, an architect and businessmen Goodluck Sylivester, Wilboard Mugyabuso and Ibrahim Kisoki.

The accused are chatged to have played various roles in the contrcution of the collapsed building that caused the deaths of Yusuph Shapia, Kulwa Alfan, Hamadu Musa, Kessy Manyapa and other 20 people. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN