Judges save the demolition of a city hotel

The owner of a building built near the UN headquarters in Gigiri has obtained an order preventing any further demolition of the premises.

Mr. Praful Kumar, owner of the Grand Manor Hotel, got the orders from the Court of Appeals last week.

Through the intermediary of the lawyer Paul Muite, Mr. Kumar baderted that, even if part of the building had been badly damaged, he could still recover the premises, because a large part of the building was still intact.

Judges Mohamed Warsame, Daniel Musinga and Professor Otieno Odek granted him the order to stay the demolition pending hearing and settlement of the case.

Leading lawyers Muite and Kithinji Marete told the court that 80% of the building was still intact.

Mr. Muite said that the upper part of the building was not affected and that the building could be recovered subject to expertise and advice.

According to Mr. Muite, the proposed remedy raises serious constitutional and legal problems and is likely to succeed.

Through his company Whitehorse Investments Limited, Mr. Kumar rushed to court to try to prevent the demolition in December, but Judge Bernard Eboso dismissed the claim, ruling that 39, businessman did not exhaust the available redress mechanisms.

The judge said the businessman had not appealed the decision of the physical planning and liaison committee made by the Nairobi County Government before going to the environment and land court.

The landlord sued, accusing the county government of giving them notice of execution, forcing them to stop building the hotel. The notice was served on December 14, 2017.

According to the businessman, he had obtained all the permits required by the county for the construction of the hotel on ONE Avenue off Limuru Road, but had been shocked by the letter asking his company to stop the construction and remove the foundations of the hotel.

He told the court that the project was 75% complete and that he had spent more than 200 million shillings in buildings.

The court heard that the county letter alleged that the construction was taking place without approval of the inspection.

But Mr Kumar told the court that he had paid the inspection fee of 2.9 million shillings and that it was incumbent on the county to inspect the building. The largest shopping center

The owner maintained that the letter was malicious, unreasonable and that the county entrusted him with the charge of inspection.

Mr. Kumar told Judge Eboso that the construction was not condemned and that it posed no risk, including to the health of the residents.

In the decision, Judge Eboso stated that the landlord was required to deal with his grievances through the mechanism provided and that there was no evidence that he had attempted to comply with those provisions.

Documents filed in court show that the US Embbady, ​​the Botswana High Commission, the UN Office and the Embbady of the Kingdom of Morocco have expressed concerns about the building .

The embbadies oppose the construction of the hotel by a collective memo n ° 1639 dated July 13, 2017, for security reasons.

The letter urged Kenya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene.