The County Government of Mombasa has suspended all applications for building extensions in the county.
This comes after close to 60,000 people were forced to vacate their homes and businesses to allow for a military controlled demolition of an 11-storey building at Corner ya Kilifi area in Mombasa.
Speaking at the County offices, Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Sheriff Nassir said the county had suspended all building extension approvals until further notice.
“We had a huge success rate even though the operation was delayed because a few individuals refused to vacate just because they wanted to be the ones to do live recordings of the demolition and post it online. But everything went well, there were no casualties except for a few windows and wall of nearby building,” said Governor Nassir.
Also read: Multi-agency taskforce to probe into demolished Mombasa 11-storey building
The demolition which took place at exactly 12:55 pm on Wednesday saw residents and businesses within a 1.2km radius from the condemned building vacate their premises for more than eight hours to facilitate the safe demolition of the condemned 11-storey building.
Meanwhile, the county Lands Department will be working around the clock to clear the area of the building materials and debris so that businesses resume normal operations.
The Governor also directed the suspension of all ongoing construction of the developer, contractor, project engineer, and project architect of the condemned 11-storey building which was brought down using military bombs.
He also set up a multi-agency taskforce that has been tasked with recommending disciplinary, legal, or administrative action to be taken against officers or entities found culpable in the construction of the condemned building.
“People will need to take responsibility. We have preliminary information on what transpired. The taskforce will give a report within two weeks,” said the Governor.
The taskforce has also been tasked with proposing reforms to prevent recurrence and strengthen compliance and accountability in the country’s oversight process.
