Nairobi buildings approval department now disbanded

The newly installed Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) has disbanded City Hall’s planning and technical committee and suspended processing of applications for residential and commercial building plans.

The committee made up of the county’s planning and technical officers has the sole mandate of recommending development plans for approval. Its other members are from Architectural Association of Kenya, Kenya Institute of Planners, Institute of Engineers in Kenya and Institute of Surveyors of Kenya.

Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) director general Mohamed Abdalla said all development applications filed after March 18 at Nairobi City County Government that were at various stages of approval stand nullified and will have to be filed afresh at NMS.

“The e-construction development application processing system formerly managed by NCCG is suspended immediately pending formation of a new system. All applications should continue to be filed to NMS DG’s office at KICC first floor,” said a public notice published on Wednesday

The move adversely hurts prospects of providing new jobs for skilled and unskilled construction workers in Nairobi as well as environment experts and related construction material dealers.

Last February, NCCG’s buildings approvals committee resumed their sittings after an eight-month lull that saw multi-billion shilling projects suspended for lack of licences.

The delays cost a Sh69 billion drop in approved projects last year where only Sh141.327 billion worth of projects were approved in Nairobi compared to Sh210 billion projects approved a year earlier.

Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) said the city management’s failure to expeditiously deal with the applications adversely hurt the construction sector’s contribution to the national economy.

On Wednesday, Major General (retired) Abdalla said a new committee to oversee the building approval process will be constituted in seven days.

The move by NMS also halts all applications made for change of user, extension of user, subdivision and amalgamation, advertisements and renewal of leases.