Seefar apartment evaluation kick off fails as NEMA, WARMA cite lack of expertise

A reflection of Seefar Apartment on Nairobi Dam. NEMA has earmarked the building for demolition saying it sits on riparian land. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

A planned joint evaluation by State agencies and owners of homes said to be sitting on riparian land has failed to take off.

The exercise was supposed to involve the Water Resource Management Authority (Warma), the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) and Seefar Homeowners, whose houses are said to be sitting on the land.

The team from Nema and Warma arrived an hour late on Wednesday and informed the residents that the evaluation, which was meant to ascertain whether the Seefar building sits on riparian land, could not be done since technicians from Survey of Kenya were not available.

“We had agreed with Nema and Warma to have their people together with the Survey of Kenya come to the ground by 10 am, only for them to show up late and say that they did not have the tools or the expertise to do it as it was up to the Survey of Kenya technicians to carry out the whole process,” said Paul Otieno, the Seefar Homeowners chairman.

“We sense malice and delaying tactics in this whole matter.”

But Warma Chief Executive Mohammed Shurie shifted blame the delay on Survey of Kenya.

“We were on the ground together with the Nema people based on the agreement we had with the Seefar Homeowners, but because the team from Survey of Kenya never showed up, the exercise could not go on,” he said.

“We were relying on their expertise to carry out the needed measurements as a neutral party in this issue so as to ascertain whether the building sits on a riparian reserve.”

When contacted, Survey of Kenya said it was not aware of the evaluation.

“We are not aware of the whole process. That information was not passed to us. When they seek our services we will respond,” said John Maina, the head of Survey of Kenya. Efforts to reach Nema failed as calls went unanswered.

Seefar Homeowners had previously carried out an independent survey, with technicians concluding that the apartment was 42 metres away from Nairobi Dam and 100 metres from the Ngong River.

This contradicted statements given by Nema and Warma that the building posed imminent danger as it sat on riparian land.

On Tuesday, the homeowners visited the Warma headquarters in Upper Hill, demanding revocation of the demolition notice which expires in 10 days. After hours of negotiations and talks an agreement was reached to have a joint evaluation team to survey the land and the dam.

The exercise was expected to finally put to rest questions on whether the building was on a riparian reserve and if demolition would be carried out as planned.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Otieno said that the demolition notice issued by Warma and Nema was based on false evaluations.