Economy

Demolition suit for hotel next to UN hits dead end

demolish

People salvage items from the demolished hotel. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU

A private developer whose multimillion-shilling hotel near UN headquarters in Gigiri was demolished has himself to blame, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Appellate judges Erastus Githinji, Wanjiru Karanja and Martha Koome dismissed the suit by Whitehorse Investments saying it was three months too late in challenging the demolition. They also ruled that the firm had filed the case before the wrong forum.

High Court judge Benard Eboso had dismissed the firm’s petition last December, paving way for the demolition of the hotel known as Grand Manor.

He said that the owner should have appealed the decision by the county government to bring down the structure before the Physical Planning Liaison Committee. Instead, the judge observed, the firm moved prematurely to Environment and Land Court.

Nairobi county government served the developer with enforcement notices December 14, 2017, requiring it to stop further construction of the hotel.

The county through lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui alleged that proper inspection had not been done and that the proprietor had ignored the Physical Planning Act on controlled development as well as the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Through lawyer Paul Muite, the developer said it had paid a Sh2.9 million inspection fee and that the county was trying to shift the burden to it.

The project was 90 percent complete and over Sh350 million spent in the construction when the seven storey building was brought down.