The government has been urged to come up with construction policies to regulate housing in the country,
The Institute of Quantity surveyors has strongly condemned the recent incidences of buildings collapsing saying that many contractors consider profit before life hence dangers.
The Chair of the Institute Andrew Mandere, therefore, says that the national government together with the county governments should come up with construction maintenance policies to regulate buildings construction in order to guarantee safety and prevent more buildings from collapsing.
Mandere says that there is a need to give the Society friendly and habitable living environment through proper construction approvals and documentation.
“The Institute with other building stakeholders are preparing a construction bill that will ensure the practice of new disciplines in line with the modern world”, said Mandere.
Mandere was speaking in Nairobi on Tuesday explaining that the bill will help tackle various challenges facing the construction industry as well as fall on the code of conduct to avoid negligence in the construction profession.
The challenges include construction costs which are very high, corruption especially in the public construction projects and the Value Added Tax (VAT) issue on social housing. Therefore, housing levies ought to be harmonized and building material made affordable through innovation.
He mentioned that such challenges scare away investors who would wish to invest in the construction industry hence hampering economic growth of the country.
The institute also wants both the national and county government to encourage contractors to adhere to construction guidance and consultancy before building to cut down on deaths brought by collapsing buildings.
Mandere furthered that the nation should not be cripple down through the destruction of property because of the ongoing demonstrations in some parts of the country spearheaded by the opposition party to disband the elections commission.