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Tenants of one of the apartments in Thindigua, Kiambu County were forced to vacate with immediate effect after the building developed cracks.

The five-storey residential blocks named Jennid Apartments which were constructed 10 years ago in Kiambu Sub-County are reported to have developed minor and major cracks on walls, windowpanes and slabs, which were consistent on all floors forcing the county government to evacuate tenants.

Preliminary investigation by the county’s department of Lands, Housing, Physical Planning, Municipal Administration and Urban indicated that the cracks were caused by a weak foundation.

“The cracks are linked to a foundation failure and the county structural engineers have declared the building as unsafe for occupation,” a statement from Kiambu county government reads in parts.

Kiambu buildings inspection

This comes as the department’s County Executive Commitee (CEC) Salome Muthoni carry on with efforts to audit and examine buildings’ safety following increased cases of collapsing buildings in the county.

Muthoni has for the past two months been leading an audit of all residential and commercial buildings across the county, both complete and those under construction.

This is to examine structural integrity following continuous collapsing of building, in what has been attributed to poor workmanship as a result of failure by county government to enforce compliance and corruption.

The CEC noted that this initiative is aimed at ensuring safety for residents and prevent future cases.

The audit dubbed ‘Rapid Response Initiative on building approval compliance and enforcement’ is being done in collaboration with the National Government and will culminate in the developers getting an opportunity to regularize approvals and certificates where the buildings will be marked as safe by experts, and hazardous ones brought down, and owners taken to court to avert loses.