Demolition of South End Mall resumes today
The demolition of South End Mall resumes on Monday after more than a week of no activity at the site.
The demolition of the mall had stalled on its second day due to lack of fuel.
Head of Nairobi Regeneration Committee command centre Julius Wanjau however claimed that the demolition of South End Mall had been delayed due to a combination of factors, but will resume after they finished demolishing Ukay Centre on Thursday last week.
“We will go back to South End Mall. We did away with the demolition of Ukay Centre on Thursday last week before taking a little break. The machines also had to be serviced…
TECHNICAL AND RISKY
Mr Wanjau said the demolition of the mall located at the junction of Lang’ata and Mbagathi Roads is a bit technical and risky compared to others they have cleared.
“The demolition of the building is quite risky and that is why we were looking at all the members of the technical team to come together because it is very risky and can be disastrous,” said Mr Wanjau on Sunday.
He said his team had to wait for advice from a technical team consisting of officials from ministries involved in the regeneration committee, who were not present last week, to combine efforts and also advice on the way forward.
Mr Wanjau stated that they will now use the rubble to build a platform to give the famous SANY bulldozer the needed height to enable the felling of the building from the top most floor.
“We have lorries from NYS which will help us in the process and the work will start from Monday,” he said.
DEMOLISHED BY OWNERS
He also said that most of the 4, 000 buildings and structures that had been earmarked for demolition by the team and served with notice had been brought down by owners.
“Many people that had marks on their buildings have demolished most of the marked areas themselves making our work easier now. Kilileshwa area, Kobumunyiri just behind Kamukunji police station and Kiruga area have had such individual demolitions,” he said.
The ongoing demolitions, now in the third week, started in Kileleshwa before proceeding to Westlands with the operation expected to last for two months.
The regeneration exercise received Sh800 million in 2018/19 financial year.