Over 500 buildings condemned in Kampala
Officials stopped this construction site in Ntinda for going against the building laws and standards by deviating from initial plan of constructing a restaurant and shopping mall and instead being partitioned into a school. PHOTOS | COURTESY
KAMPALA. Over 500 buildings in Kampala have been condemned by the National Building Review Board (NBRB) and Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), following a massive crackdown on illegal buildings in the five divisions of city.
A condemned building or property in simple terms is a building that local authorities have closed, seized or placed under restrictions for various reasons, including public safety and public health, in accordance with local ordinance.
The crackdown follows a technical assessment report by the KCCA’s Physical Planning Doctorate over the last two years that found out that there are 504 illegal buildings in the five divisions of Kampala, having been constructed without approval by the concerned authorities.
To that effect, the police, KCCA and NBRB in a joint crackdown on Thursday, among other measures, halted the construction of a proposed restaurant and office building on Plot 20196, Block 216 in Ntinda, for deviating from the approved building plans.
According to Eng Flavia Bwire, the Executive Secretary of the National Building Review Board, much as the building had been approved for a restaurant and office space, the proprietor will not be allowed to partition it into an international school without their clearance.
“The drawings for this site were submitted for approval and the KCCA building committee differed them and asked for additional information. However, the developer ignored KCCA advice and went ahead with the construction,” Eng Bwire said.
Other construction sites including commercial buildings and fuel stations along Salaama Road in Makindye Division, were also halted for altering the initial building plans.
Construction at this site in Kibuye, Makindye Division has also been halted for altering the approved building plans and lack of a site engineer.
Eng Justus Akakwasa, the Acting Director of Engineering and Technical Services in KCCA, said they stopped the construction of new fuel stations in Kampala for the last two years and wondered where these proprietors got the approvals.
Under the Building Control Act, 2013, section 40, a building committee may by notice in writing, order any person to stop a building operation, in instances where the operation is done in a manner that is contrary to the provisions of the Act.
This area in Salama, Makindye Division was approved for a shopping centre but plan was changed to a fuel station, the enforcement team halted the construction and recommended for its demolition.
For example, if there is non-compliance with the health and sanitation requirements prescribed in the Building Control Regulations, 2020 and also in scenarios where a building has no access for persons with disabilities and where a building site is predisposed to flooding and poor drainage system.
In the recent past, many lives and properties have been lost to buildings collapsing. This is as a result of contracting unprofessional manpower by some proprietors, use of substandard building materials and contravening the set laws and regulations.
In May last year, three builders were seriously injured when a four-storeyed building under construction in Bunga, Kampala, collapsed under its weight.
Likewise, in March this year, two people died and others sustained injuries after a ceiling of a church on Fidodido building along Kampala road collapsed on the congregants who were attending a lunch hour fellowship.
