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.
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 yesterday, among other measures, halted the construction of proposed restaurant and office building, on plot 20196, block 216 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 the KCCA advise and went ahead with the construction.” Eng. Bwire added.
Other construction sites including commercial buildings and petrol stations along Salaama Road in Makindye Division, were also halted for altering the earlier building plans.
Eng. Justus Akakwasa, the Acting Director of Engineering and Technical Services in KCCA, said they stopped the construction of new petrol stations in Kampala for the last two years and wondered where these proprietors got the approvals from.
Under the Building Control Act, 2013, section 40, a building committee may by notice in writing, order any person to stop a building operation, where the building operation is carried out in a manner which is contrary to the provisions of the Act.
For example, if there is noncompliance 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 due to buildings collapsing as a result of proprietors contracting unprofessional manpower, use of substandard building materials and contravening the set laws and regulations.
In May last year, three builders were seriously injured when a four storied building under construction in Bunga, Kampala collapsed under its weight.
Likewise, in March this year, two people died and many sustained injuries after a ceiling of a church on Fidodido building along Kampala road collapsed on the congregants.