Imminent crisis at NCA as Treasury slashes entire Sh 1.3bn budget » Capital News
NAIROBI, Kenya May 24 -The supervision of various buildings might face a hurdle after the National treasury cut the entire Sh 1.3 billion budget for the National Construction Authority (NCA).
Lands, Public Works Housing and Urban Development Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome and NCA Executive Director Maurice Akech told MPs it will be impossible for it to carry out its mandate and pay salaries if the money is not availed in the 2024/2025 budget.
Appearing before the committee on housing, urban planning and urban developments they decried that the enhancement of safety in safe construction of structures will be impeded.
The Lands Cabinet Secretary told MPs to intervene on the matter saying their talks with the
National Treasury have failed to bore fruits.
“Although I have told NCA that they are no longer small babies as they are growing and that they need to also push for more allocation, it is sad that they have lost an entire budget in this financial year,” Wahome said.
The NCA Executive Director explained that the funds were aimed at catering for various expenses including inspection of 200 projects under the Affordable Housing programme from design to completion at a cost of Sh 300 million.
The funds were also targeted at accreditation of 500000 construction workers over a period of five years at Sh 100 million
Standardization and improvement of construction techniques and materials for affordable housing at a cost of Sh 50 million will also be affected if the budgetary cuts are implemented.
He also revealed that registration of all project to ensure they comply with the required standards including approvals from the relevant authorities at Sh 10 million will be affected.
“The execution of the authority’s core mandate on its regulatory functions including monitoring and enforcing compliance with construction regulations, building code and standards will greatly be hindered. This will negate the strides made by the authority in promoting safe construction structures in the industry,” Akech said.
NCA that the authority’s operations will also be affected as it had also planned to use the money to pay non-discretionary expenses such as employee’s costs, rent and utilities but this will not be possible due to lack of funds.
” The full rationalization of the government revenue has further compounded the revenue shortfall which can be bridged through reinstatement of the construction levy and factored to the budget otherwise the authority’s operations are crippled,” said Akech.
A number of buildings have collapsed in the country due to shortcuts, poor workmanship, and impunity during construction.
Over 723 buildings in the country have been marked as very unsafe and thus not fit for occupancy in an assessment of 14,895 buildings conducted by NCA in 2018.
The most recent case is in the Mathare North area where a three-story building undergoing demolition collapsed, trapping numerous people under the rubble.
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