Court temporarily halts construction of Kenya's tallest building

oThe High Court has briefly stopped the construction of additional floors on Hazina Trading Centre following protests by Nakumatt supermarket over noise.

The building, whose upgrade commenced early February this year, is projected to become East Africa's tallest building, with 40 floors and the third tallest in Africa. The upgrade will cost a whopping Sh7.1 billion.

It is located at the intersection of Mokhtar Daddah and Monrovia streets and houses the Nakumatt Lifestyle branch.

Nakumatt, which occupies three floors of the building, told the court on Tuesday that construction of 36 more floors on the property has made their customers to cow away over fears about their safety and health and construction injuries.

Justice Lucy Gacheru temporarily halted construction work on the building for two weeks “only for maintenance of status quo as before the commencement of the upgrade.”

“Order of interim injunction is hereby issued for 14 days only restraining the constructors, China Hang Xi International Kenya Limited and the owners NSSF, from in any way interfering with the suit premises or the plaintiff’s enjoyment of quiet possession and to remove any scaffolding or blockage of shoppers accessing the supermarket,” the judge said.

DANGER TO STAFF

Nakumatt, through its lawyer Ian Maina, said that the construction will give rise to a lot of dust, noise and air pollution hence pose a grave danger to their supermarket staff, shoppers and members of the public.

“The defendants are currently dumping building materials, waste, installing machinery, cranes and operating them thereby causing unprecedented nuisance to the plaintiff, its staff and customers,” he said.

He claimed that the acts by the construction companies are rendering the premises inaccessible thereby making the supermarket register big losses.

The supermarket said the constructor and the owner are about to fence off the premises in accordance with city council by-laws thereby making their business inaccessible to members of the public and the tenants.

“The plaintiff (Nakumatt) is a holder of a valid lease agreement for the whole of the building for a period of 20 years as from August 12 2003 to August 2023. They thus have a right constitutionally guaranteed over the use and on-goings of the suit premises against any other person,” Mr Maina said.

He said that in commercial premises, proper maintenance and care should be considered to ensure the safety of the occupants.

“Construction is being done hurriedly without regard of my clients’ commercial interests. Their conduct obstructs the plaintiff from carrying on meaningful business,” the lawyer maintained.