Collapsed building had no approved plan – KCCA

The owner of the building on Kisenyi Road, which collapsed on Sunday afternoon, killing at least six people and injuring three others, did not have any approved plans,  Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has said.

 This is the second building to collapse in Kampala City in a space of three weeks. On August 18, another building collapsed in Kitebi, Rubaga Division, killing one person.

KCCA through the department of physical planning is mandated to, among others, ensure proper planning in the city and approve all development plans. 

Letters this newspaper has seen show  that on June 30, KCCA’s physical planner for Central Division Villey Agaba wrote a notice to Mr Haruna Ssentongo, the owner of the building, asking him to “immediately halt all ongoing works and provide me with a valid approved plan, name of inspector and hoarding permits”. 

However, Mr Ssentongo reportedly defied KCCA and continued with construction works. 

On July 29, Mr Agaba again wrote to the developer warning him against the ongoing illegal construction works and gave him 28 days to remove the illegal structure. 

KCCA only pulls down a structure after 28 days (weekends excluded) have elapsed and they have fulfilled all legal procedures. 

When contacted yesterday, Mr Agaba confirmed having issued the notices to the developer but declined to offer more details and referred us to KCCA’s head of public and corporate affairs Daniel Nuwabiine. 

Mr Nuwabiine said upon issuance of the 28-day notice, KCCA’s committee of physical planning meets to discuss the procedures of demolishing an illegal structure. 

The demolition, Mr Nuwabiine says, has to be approved by the director of legal affairs to avoid any litigation that might arise during or after the exercise.  

“The 28 days which we gave the developer hadn’t expired and we were in the process of pulling down that structure since the owner didn’t have any approved plans and had defied our first notice,” he said. 

He, however, said investigations were ongoing to ascertain if the mistake could have been on their part as an authority. 

Asked why KCCA didn’t deploy enforcement officers to stop further construction since the developer had no approved plan, Mr Nuwabiine said they have inadequate housing inspection staff. 

“There are currently more than 1,000 buildings under construction in the city and this makes our inspectors quite engaged.  Owners of collapsed buildings tend to construct at night and weekends when we are off duty. Developers should endeavour to follow guidelines to mitigate losses because our offices are open to serve them,” he said.

 Cause  

Preliminary investigations by the National Building Review Board (NBRB) state that there was failure of the temporary supports to the slab under construction. 

“After the failure of these supports, the slab at that level fell on the level below, thereby overwhelming the support on the slab as well. This ripple effect continued to the subsequent floors until the entire building collapsed,” the board tweeted yesterday. 

Efforts to speak to Mr Ssentongo were futile as his known telephone number couldn’t be reached. 

While addressing journalists yesterday shortly after visiting the site, Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago said both the owner of the collapsed structure, site engineer and KCCA’s inspector for Central Division should be arrested. 

He asked KCCA’s technical team to immediately pull down the remaining structure to mitigate further injuries and deaths. 

“Buildings are collapsing day and night in the city and no action is being taken. It is very unfortunate that we have lost our people. I would like to assure you that going forward, we are going to tighten the noose and plug all loopholes within the system of processing plans and approval of the same,” he said. 

He wondered why one would flout critical building procedures and choose to erect a building at a break-neck speed if at all they had genuine plans. 

Mr Lukwago said the newly amended KCCA Act requires the physical planning committee which approves development plans to have a representative from the political wing unlike the old law where the committee comprised of only members from the technical team.

Though there are allegations from members of public about KCCA inspectors and physical planners taking bribes to cover up illegal structures in the city, Mr Nuwabiine said they had not got a formal corruption-related complaint against their staff.

Procedure

Before one embarks on any development in the city, they are supposed to meet certain requirements to have their plans approved. 

These include a copy of the land title, search statement of the land title, payment receipts, survey report from registered surveyor to ascertain open boundaries, verify location and check encroachment; two copies of architectural drawings and signed by a registered and practicing architect. 

Others are two copies of structural application certificates signed by a structural engineer, signed structural calculations, a geotechnical report, an excavation plan, a traffic impact mitigation plan, Environmental Impact Assessment Plan and Storm Water Management Plan.  

According to KCCA’s website, approval of any development plan takes at least two weeks but it may stretch to a month due to the already existing backlog.  

However, in the event that there is delayed approval, the developer can write to the physical planning director to have approval of their plan expedited. 

Every division has only one building inspector who inspects the ongoing development projects.

Previous incidents

•August 18. A building collapsed in Kitebi-Bunamwaya in Rubaga Division, killing one person and injuring several others. 

•January 24, 2020. A building collapsed in Kagugube Zone in Kampala Central Division. No deaths or fatalities were registered. 

•January 9, 2020. Six people died after a building collapsed in Kansanga, Makindye Division.

•January 15, 2020. Three people died and several others injured after a two-floor storied building located on Plot 17 Gokhale Road in Jinja City caved in.

•October 11, 2019. One person died and several others were injured after a building collapsed in Bakuli, Rubaga Division.

•January 26, 2016. Two people died and five others sustained injuries when a building under construction on Luwum Street in the city centre collapsed.

•April 2016. A building collapsed along Makerere Hill Road, leaving at least four people dead and scores injured.

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