The Built Environment report shows sales of building materials and construction jobs have sharply dropped following a 34.6 per cent downsize in projects approved by City’s County government between the first and sixth months of 2019.
A report by Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) noted only 955 projects worth Sh84.2 billion were accepted in rigorous process that took close to six weeks compared to 2018’s projects worth Sh128.7 billion and were approved in about five weeks being 1,167 in number.
“The county’s revenue also fell by 33.1 percent or Sh165 million to Sh333 million. This is an area that could be fast-tracked if online portals were used to process all building applications thereby reducing human contact that gives graft a fertile ground to thrive,” said AAK president Mugure Njendu.
The tumble has come after the stringent inspection where properties standing on road reserves, fire stations, riparian and forestland were smashed down even with owners having proof of ownership(documents).
The County Boss took the move of directing building approvals committee to conduct due diligence on land ownership, visit project sites and consult other regulatory agencies before approving projects.
Of the approved projects, 74.32 percent are residential buildings whereas 11.23 percent is for public use, 8.63 percent for industrial use, commercial at 5.93 percent and education developments was last at 0.21 percent
