Government and Policy

NMS Disbands City Hall’s Nairobi Building Approval Department

BY Soko Directory Team · May 15, 2020 05:05 am

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s newly installed Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) has disbanded City Hall’s planning and technical committee and suspended all ongoing processing of applications for residential and commercial building plans in the Capital City.

The Committee whose responsibility is to recommend development plans is made up of the county’s planning and technical officers and some members from the Architectural Association of Kenya, Kenya Institute of Planners, Institute of Engineers in Kenya and Institute of Surveyors of Kenya.

Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) director-general Mohamed Abdalla said all development applications filed after 18th March 2020 at Nairobi City County Government and were in some stage of approval now stand nullified and will have to be filed afresh at the Nairobi Metropolitan Service.

“The e-construction development application processing system formerly managed by NCCG is suspended immediately pending formation of a new system. All applications should continue to be filed to NMS DG’s office at KICC first floor,” said in a notice to the public on 13th May 2020.

The decision to suspend all ongoing construction applications is bound to hurt the real estate industry before services streamline with both skilled and unskilled workers in Nairobi set to suffer adverse effects together with construction material dealers.

The approval of applications has already been on a drag since the COVID-19 outbreak with most of the officials entrusted with the mandate to ensure construction approvals keeping off their offices.

The Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) has said the NMS failure to moving in and resolving the discrepancies with the construction applications will adversely hurt the construction sector’s contribution to the national economy at a time when it is already hard-hit.

On 13th May 2020, Major General (retired) Abdalla said a new committee to oversee the building approval process will be constituted in the next seven working days with all applications made for the change of user, an extension of the user, subdivision and amalgamation, advertisements, and renewal of leases currently at a standpoint.

About Soko Directory Team

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