Three people were seriously injured and another is reported missing after a 10-storey building collapsed in Dar es Salaam today. The building collapsed today at around 11 am but was reported to be gradually sinking since Friday. Police are holding the Acting Ilala Municipal Council engineer, Mr Nassoro Robert for questioning.

The cause for the collapse is yet to be established. Dar es Salaam Special Zone Police Commander Suleiman Kova said today that the police had also questioned the owner of the property, Mr Muhsin Somji (52) and that they were still looking for the contractor (name withheld).

The building, a proposed commercial structure on Plot Number 9 at Mtendeni Street within the city’s central business district, fell on a 2-storey building that housed a furniture and carpet shop on Plot Number 10 whose owner, Mr Ajay Lahkshan, said four people were in the shop when the incident occurred.

Three of them were rescued and the third victim - identified as Shamte - is considered missing. Those rescued are Ms Sharifa Juma, Ms Halima Seleman and Mama Lubabwe, all of whom were taken to separate hospitals - Ms Juma and Ms Seleman were taken to Muhimbili and Lubabwe to the Agakhan hospital.

According to a billboard on the site of the collapsed building, the main contractor was listed as N.K. Decorators, the architect as JEAM Associates and the structural engineer as CODEC. The client is McSoms Investment Ltd.

The Registrar of the Contractors Registration Board (CRB), Mr Boniface Muhegi, said that the contractor has been legally registered by his board and that it was too early to speculate who is to take the blame. “There are so many things that need to be looked at, there are many people that have a role to play and what really went wrong can only be established by a thorough investigation,” he said.

Engineers Registration Board (ERB) Registrar, Mr Ramo Makani, told this paper that the consulting engineer was also legally registered by his board – but also added it was too early to comment anything. “Building has its process that includes the municipal council inspecting every stage of construction before giving any go-ahead for another stage.

It will take time to establish what really happened,” he said. The architect, JEAM Associates, is also legally registered by the Architect and Quantity Surveyors Registration Board (AQRB), the board’s registrar Mr Abraham Marress told the ‘Daily News’ today.

The Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlement, Mr John Chiligati, said that he had not been filled in with details of the incident and asked to be given more time to look into the matter. According to Mr Kova, police have already launched an investigation into the matter but would not give further details.

On March 17, 2006 a four-storey building collapsed in Chang’ombe, Dar es Salaam, killing one person. Following the accident, the then premier Mr Edward Lowassa formed a committee of stakeholders and experts to inspect all buildings in the city, completed and those under construction. The purpose of the inspection was to ensure that all buildings meet the required standards to avoid incidents of high-rise buildings collapsing. The team’s report is yet to be made public.

Source: Daily News