The National Construction Authority (NCA) intends to review its regulations so as to give it powers to prosecute construction offenders in Kenya. This is in the midst of growing number of cases of developers taking shortcuts in the key industry.
This initiative has been thought of after several warnings from the Lands Ministry that most buildings in Nairobi do not meet safety standards, exposing residents to potential disaster.
NCA chief executive, Mr. Daniel Manduku confirmed the news and said that the agency had already petitioned Parliament to oversee the process of amending the NCA Act. At present, NCA directly regulates the professional conduct of contractors and construction workers in Kenya.
Also Read: Shelter Afrique faces huge losses as NCA questions their housing units
“We have identified areas in law that need to be changed and give us enforcement powers,” Mr Manduku.
“We have identified Huruma, Zimmerman, Pipeline and Umoja as potential disaster zones in the county due to the many buildings that fall below standards,” Moses Nyakiongera, Building Inspectorate secretary at the Lands said during an interview.
NCA joins 32 other organizations that have transited to the new version of certification owing to its development of standards for the construction industry and quality management systems.
With this certification, NCA demonstrates to its stakeholders that if standards are implemented, they can save a lot of lives through failures attributed to poor workmanship and disregard for laid down regulations; this is according to Charles Ongwae, the Managing Director at the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs).
NCA’s mandate is to regulate the construction industry in Kenya and coordinate its development.
