The National Building Review Board-NBRB has said that
preliminary findings indicate that the Speke Courts extension building
collapsed largely due to poor quality construction materials and lack of
supervision.
The two-floor building still under construction
collapsed on Monday night. Eyewitnesses say that the building collapsed at
around 7:00 PM while casual laborers were finalizing their day’s duty. Engineers and architects from NBRB visited the site to
ascertain the circumstances under which it collapsed.
The communications manager of NBRB, Herbert
Zziwa says that the lack of supervision provided an opportunity for the
developer to deviate from the original construction plans. Zziwa notes that construction materials at the site
were falsified and instead of using the recommended 16 mm size iron bars, they
instead opted for the 12 mm, which overwhelmed the building with excess weight,
causing it to collapse.
Zziwa also cites low amounts of cement in the
concrete mixture at both the foundation and different beam levels, which in the
long run weakened the building’s holding spaces, causing it to collapse on the
ground.
The Acting Jinja City Clerk, Moses Lorika notes that the developer
commenced construction works without clearance from the Jinja city’s building
control committee, making their activities illegal.
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