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Inspection of high rise structures starts today
2006-05-18 09:11:14
By Judica Tarimo
Inspection of high rise building erected illegally and/or unprofessionally, starts today, top officials of the special commission tasked to do the job revealed yesterday.
’’We have already laid a groundwork. We expect to officially start our work today,’’ one of the top officials of a probe team said.
Inspection process was supposed to begin yesterday (Wednesday) but the official declined to produce specific reasons it was put back.
The Prime Minister, Edward Lowassa ordered the three Dar es Salaam municipal authorities to form commission to investigate allegations of illegal and unprofessional erection of high-rise buildings in the city.
The premier’s decision followed the collapse of one of such buildings in Chango’mbe area over two months ago in.
There were speculations that the building did not follow laid down constructional and engineering procedures.
Sources say many buildings across Dar es Salaam could have been erected under similar circumstances.
Municipal officials have been facing accusations of issuing building permits haphazardly to the owners of the respective structures.
Some people are also skeptical that there could be some conflict of interests, as the probe commission pits officials who were involved directly or indirectly in the issuance of permits to wealthy owners of the structures.
However, when interviewed, members of the probe team, when interviewed said they were confident that they would be fair and dismissed any talk of unfairness and bias.
’’I am sure, the commission would be independent, because views of municipal officials who might be involved in the scandal will not be final,’’ said one source, adding, ’’we will challenge results of the inspection and prepare recommendations as a team and not as individuals.’’
He said the commission would inspect buildings in different parts of the city to check whether they followed necessary professional construction procedures.
’’After inspection, we will draw up recommendations and forward them to the higher authorities,’’ the source said, but declined to comment if the government would demolish the buildings if ever found not to have followed constructional and engineering procedures.
’’Our task is to inspect and make recommendations. I am not in a better position to say what steps would the government take against culprits if found,’’ noted the team member.
Commission members would be deployed to different parts of Dar es Salaam, examining technicalities of the structures including talking to the owners.
As investigations on the scam begins, tensions are rife among municipal officials reportedly to be involved in the controversial issuance of building permits.
It is not so clear how the government would resolve the issue as sources say a well-connected network syndicate of officials is reportedly masterminding the permit issuance process.
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