The much awaited demolition of Airgate Mall formerly known as Taj Mall in Embakasi is still ongoing. A green excavator started the demolition process around 6 am on Saturday morning, and the exercise has drawn a lot of onlookers.
Police officers have been deployed and there was a noted hiccup in the exercise as they tried to keep off looters, forcing them to hurl teargas canisters. Kenya Power engineers were also given time to remove their generator form the building.
The demolition of the multi million shillings mall is meant to pave the way for reclamation of road reserve land by the government. A multi agency team in charge of the demolition had given a notice to the tenants of the building to vacate by August 30th as the building had already been earmarked.
However, the mall owner Ramesh Gorasia remained defiant and even dared the government to demolish the building. The mall was opened by the then vice president Kalonzo Musyoka on August 2011.