Nakumatt to claim insurance for Ukay floods damage
A businessman tries to recover some of his goods after flash floods swept through Ukay Centre flooding the Nakummatt Ukay branch on Nairobi May 9, 2016.PHOTO | SALATON NJAU
What you need to know:
The retail chain Monday said insurance agents and Nakumatt officials were assessing the damage before making the claims.
Nakumatt was forced to suspend operations at the Ukay Centre shopping mall branch on Sunday following the deluge.
Nakumatt Holdings will seek insurance compensation for goods damaged at its Ukay branch in Westlands, Nairobi, following flash floods that soaked the city on Saturday night.
The retail chain Monday said insurance agents and Nakumatt officials were assessing the damage before making the claims.
“The branch just as the rest is insured and the assessment for damages incurred began immediately and is ongoing. There are no timelines for its completion but we expect to get a clear picture of the huge damage once the assessment is complete,” said Nakumatt Holdings spokesperson Alfred Nganga in an interview.
Nakumatt was forced to suspend operations at the Ukay Centre shopping mall branch on Sunday following the deluge. The torrential rains caused flood water to enter the mall destroying goods and sweeping away many others, resulting in huge losses. The loss could easily amount to tens of millions of shillings.
Closed indefinitely.
The retailer announced Sunday the outlet will be closed indefinitely.
The Nakumatt Highridge branch will open for 24 hours to meet the needs of customers who previously frequented Nakumatt Ukay. Nakumatt Ukay had branded itself as an outlet where customers in Westlands, Parklands and the environs (and even beyond) could walk in at any time of the day or night to buy whatever they needed.
The building in which the Ukay Centre branch is located has in the past caused a storm as environmentalists claimed that it is built on a riparian reserve.
Nakumatt has however argued that it is just a tenant, declining to answer questions on the location of the building.
Government officials yesterday remained non-committal on matter. The National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) Acting Director in Charge of Compliance and Enforcement Zephania Ouma said the authority was scrutinising the building’s Environmental Impact Assessment report afresh.
Mr Ouma however blamed pollution of the environment which he said had led to blockage of drainages for the floods which soaked the mall.
“The recent flooding has been made worse by the wanting solid waste management we have in the city,” said Mr Ouma on phone. Nairobi County officials however said “It was clear” that the building hosting Nakumatt Ukay was built on riparian reserve but refused to comment on whether it would be demolished.
“While we offer our sympathies, it is clear to us that the owners of the building resisted attempts years back not to build the building on riparian land.
You cannot fight nature and this fact as Wangari Mathai used to say has come to pass,” Nairobi County’s Chief Engineer for Roads, Transport and Planning Michael Ngare said in an interview.
Mr Ngare blamed inadequate laws for allowing “greedy developers” to build on riparian land.“We have formed a team comprising officials from the Environment ministry to review the land laws and clarify the dos’ and don’ts of building along riparian land,” he said.
Heavy rains in recent days have resulted in floods within Nairobi and other parts of the country, causing not only loss of human and animal lives but damage to residential and commercial properties across the country.
