The Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) has released their annual report on the status of building environment, aimed at improving and strengthening both proper housing and infrastructure in both urban and rural settings.
The annual report released gave an outlook on how 2022 performed and the progress made, the construction industry being among the main contributors to the growth of Kenya’s economy.
Speaking during the event, Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mr. Zacharia Mwangi, noted some important key areas and issues that affect the urban development and proper housing not only in the urban set up but also in rural areas.
Mr. Mwangi stated that the major challenges that the Ministry faces under proper housing are the collapse of buildings in Nairobi County and also in other Counties like Kiambu.
The CS also suggested that there is need for affordable housing for more than ten estates in Nairobi County such as Kayole and Embakasi.
“You are our best stakeholders and implementation should be made in order to do away with low standard building and embrace gradable building standards,” said Mwangi.
Mwangi further highlighted that the professionals should stop taking shortcuts in building because the collapse of buildings does not only cause loss to the owner but also causes wastage of resources and is also loss to the government.
CS Mwangi advocated for public awareness in order to educate the public on the importance of getting proper construction.
He further commended the Media in creating public awareness and public education mainly through the electronic media not only for residents in urban centers like Nairobi but also for those in the rural areas.
“Cheap is expensive, and it’s better to get a good professional architect who will offer good and credible services at an expensive cost rather than having an architect who offers at a cheaper cost ending up with a collapsed building,” said CS.
Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) president Architect Wilson Mugambi, released the report saying that in 2022 the National Construction Authority (NCA) received a total of 8,154 applications for project registration and approved 4,377(53.7%) of the projects.
26,060 construction projects were inspected during this period by NCA, suspending 18,192(69.8%) of the projects due to non-compliance.
Mugambi added that the collapse of buildings has been a common occurrence in most major cities including Nairobi.
He stated that the Nairobi Metropolitan region that had always been a hotspot for these incidents recorded approximately 13 cases of collapsed buildings in 2022 as compared to the 2019 audit which had over 87 cases.
“AAK developed the Safari Green Building Index (SGBI) whose purpose is to aid in assessing projects in the built environment to establish their environmental performance and provide leadership in sustainability,” said Mugambi.
By Eunice Wangare and Maslah Bishar
