A building that collapsed in Transami area of Pipeline Estate, Nairobi
on June 14, 2011. The Nairobi County Council has now drafted a policy
that, if passed into law, will see inspections and approvals of
buildings done through the private sector. PHOTO | FILE
The amount of rain experienced in Nairobi over the past few weeks has been substantial.
Roads
were rendered impassable due to clogged drainage leaving motorists and
commuters stranded. And while all this was happening, a catastrophe
struck at South B estate.
At least
seven people lost their lives after a mosque perimeter wall collapsed.
and once again questions were raised on the safety of newly constructed
buildings.
Six years ago
Architectural Association of Kenya official Maxwell Suero predicted the
effects of poorly constructed buildings when he said:
“Blood
is on the dance floor... Anything can happen and if professionals are
not taken seriously, there’ll be more blood on the floor.”
Barely
three days after his statement, a five-storey building under
construction in Kiambu Town collapsed, killing 16 workers. Since then,
the construction industry has been dogged with controversy over poorly
constructed buildings and rogue developers.
Soon
after a building collapsed in Makongeni, the National Construction
Authority officials went around the city marking out structures that did
not meet the required standards. The concrete edifices that were marked
were supposedly due for demolition.
Unfortunately, that was as far as the exercise went and few if any of the marked structures were brought down.
From
the collapse of Kihonge Building in Nairobi back in 2006 to the recent
Huruma, Makongeni and Roysambu disasters, it is clear that even
buildings under construction are flouting construction rules.
PRIVATISE THE PROCESS
A
team to investigate the housing sector — named the Mutua Commission —
was formed soon after the collapse of the then Sunbeam Supermarket
building on Moi Avenue several years ago.
Similarly, the Kihonge building also attracted a commission of inquiry chaired by Mr Kariuki Muchemi, an engineer.
The commission brought together architects, planners and engineers from both the public and private sectors.
“The
common observation from both investigations was that there was total
lack of institutional capacity within the then City Council,” says Mr
Muchemi.
“This is the case with all
local authorities across the country. From our observations, even
formation of county governments has not changed the situation,” he says.
Among the findings of the commission of inquiry was that local authorities had low remuneration rates for professionals.
“The
counties then could not pay for the professionals therefore they could
neither recruit nor retain qualified and experienced building industry
professionals,” explains Muchemi.
As
they sat to discuss the way forward for the industry, Mr Muchemi says
that there was only one viable option; that building approvals and
inspection processes be privatised, and local authorities only play
regulatory roles.
“The arrangement
would be that the local authority would levy a certain approval fee but
leave the inspection and supervision to qualified professionals who
would be paid set fees by the property developers,” he says.
This,
Mr Muchemi says, would ensure that supervision work is undertaken by
practitioners who have professional indemnity, insurance, and codes of
conduct, making them entirely liable for any shortcomings in the
building process. The professional would also certify the works on
completion.
The Nairobi County
Council has now drafted a policy that, if passed into law, will see
inspections and approvals of buildings done through the private sector.
Times,
demands, dynamics, challenges and opportunities in the environment
have changed, calling for reform and transformation in the existing
approaches in the management of urban development, particularly the
construction industry.
The report
also touches on institutional challenges specifically statutory gaps,
manpower, fiscal and equipment constraints, among others, that bedevil
the building sector.
OUTSOURCED SERVICES
Mr
Tom Odongo, the executive committee member in the lands, housing and
urban planning department at the Nairobi City Council (NCC), says the
policy serves as a means of critically assessing pertinent issues
relating to buildings inspections.
“There
are so many buildings sprouting up in every corner of this city and as a
county, we do not have the capacity to serve building inspection due to
resource constraints,” he says.
“We agree that there are developers who are taking shortcuts. They are bending the laws and we need to curb this hazard.”
Several
measures have also been put in place but the one thing that has not yet
been explored is privatisation of the inspection process.
According
to Mr Steven Oundo of the National Construction Authority(NCA), it’s a
requirement that the workers, the building, and the materials used to
put it up are all inspected.
“We have
to know if the personnel handling a project are qualified to do so. For
instance, we have check if the contractor or site foreman or supervisor
are registered,” he explains.
At
times, he adds, “some developers want a multi-million construction but
still want to avoid the paying the levy it attracts. If the cost of a
project is, say, over Sh5 million, it should attract a 0.5 per cent
levy. This is something that some will want to avoid paying.”
So, is privatising building inspection the way to go?
“Yes,”
says Mr Oundo, who argues that if the inspection of buildings is
outsourced, the county will not only tap into resources but also reduce
the wage bill.
Being one of the first
proponents of outsourcing building inspection services, Mr Muchemi
argues that privatisation is viable since there are competent
professionals in the building industry.
“In
any case, under the current approval process, NCC grants consent for
construction but still requires the architects, engineers and
contractors to sign an indemnity (security or protection against a loss
or other financial burden) that despite the approval they are entirely
liable for anything that may go wrong with the project. So to this
extent, the building process is still largely in private hands,” says
Muchemi.
He also adds that there are too many parties involved in the building process and it is time the entire process was streamlined.
“The
involvement of NCC, NCA, National Environment Management Authority
(Nema) and others is creating confusion and giving opportunities to
unscrupulous officers to frustrate property developers,” says Muchemi.
Property lawyer Mwiti Kaburu agrees that it is time that the country considered outsourcing such crucial services.
“It
is noteworthy that in fast growing and changing cities like Nairobi, it
can be very difficult for the county government to keep up with the
demand for services,” he says.
But
what would really be the benefits of privatising this service? According
to Mr Kaburu, key among the benefits is improved quality of services
and efficiency.
UNREALISTIC MOVE
“Private
companies tend to offer high quality services because their contracts
are subject to periodic review and renewal,” he explains.
According
to the recommendation passed by Mr Muchemi’s commission, the
privatisation process should be a two-stage affair “where approval is
granted by the County Government at a fee but the inspection would be
outsourced and charges would be paid by the property developer.”
Although
many may be wary of corruption in the bidding process of the service,
Kaburu says that if it is transparent, then services will be entrusted
to competent contractors, hence better value for public money.
He also notes that there will be great reduction in cases of corruption during building approval.
“In most cases privatisation promotes accountability and offers a guarantee that the services will be offered.”
Privatisation
of building inspection and approval has been successful in countries
like Malaysia and Singapore. However, in other countries, the process
has been opposed. In South Africa, city planners have argued that the
move is unrealistic.
“We need to be
very realistic about what there is that you can outsource. I am sure
someone can come and be very creative about that sort of tender, but at
the end of it all I think we need to be very careful about how we own
our information and how we own our own decision-making, because if we
don’t own our own decision-making then we are going to be in very big
trouble,” said Mr Nkateko Shipalana, the Assistant Director of Metro
Planning in the City of Johannesburg.
But
locally, Mr Muchemi believes that the process will ensure that the
county government does not maintain a large pool of non-performing
staff, but only a lean regulatory team.
“The
prayers of all players in the building industry is that there is
political will to privatise the building process. This is the only way
to go if we are going to progress as a nation,” concludes Muchemi.
**********
Approval fee
The
arrangement would be that the local authority would levy a certain
approval fee but leave the inspection and supervision to qualified
professionals who would be paid set fees by the property developers.
— Kariuki Muchemi, Engineer
No comments :
Post a Comment