Kariakoo multi-storey buildings a time bomb

The municipal authority had to serve the developers with ‘stop orders’ while others were directed to rectify the defects. In other instances, other offenders were fined.PHOTO|FILE  

Dar es Salaam.Property developers, mostly wealthy, well-connected individuals in Kariakoo erect multi-storey buildings with no regard to engineering standards, turning the never-sleeping commercial suburb into a ticking time bomb.

According to an ongoing inspection commissioned by the Ilala Municipal Council, standard plans submitted to and approved by the authority are put aside and new unauthorised sketches are used to put up high-rise buildings in the area.

The basements of the structures, for instance, of approved plans usually show that they are supposed to be parking bays, but these features are no where to be seen in the actual buildings. But in their place, shops and offices would be found.

Presently, Kariakoo is virtually a no-go area for city motorists because of lack of parking space. The inspection that began in July this year will run for a full year.So far, 96 buildings have been found with various flaws including extended structures and road blockages.

The inspector appointed by the Ilala Municipal Council, Design Plus Architects, says what is happening in Kariakoo is simply ‘chaos’. Even those who use the approved plans have altered the designs to serve their own goals.

“There are alterations on the plans,” says a preliminary report by the inspector.

The report unleashed impending disaster and imminent health consequences.

“The buildings are entirely clustered and heavily compacted to each other hence inhabitable,” the report reads. There is no air circulation in rooms along the clustered areas which may lead to a disaster in case of a fire breakout because smoke would have no outlet from the buildings hence suffocation to the occupiers,” reads part of the report.

The situation is no different at construction sites.The inspector came across a list of shortcomings such as absence of parking spaces, failure by developers to show test results of materials workers being on the site without protective gears and without formal contracts.

and lack of escape routes to the structures in case of a disaster.

The municipal authority had to serve the developers with ‘stop orders’ while others were directed to rectify the defects. In other instances, other offenders were fined.

By Monday, 67 owners and developers bad been served with inspection reports on their properties. This is when the problem began and, it seems, why the inspector reached out to the media even before quarterly report.