KCCA Closes Forest Mall
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has closed down Forest Mall, a day after the southern wing of the building collapsed and injured 6 people.
In a statement released yesterday evening, KCCA stated that the building has been closed down due to lack of an occupational permit and other necessary approvals required to carry out the construction works.
“We have closed down Forest Mall due to lack of an occupational permit and other necessary approvals from KCCA. We will continue emphasizing structural integrity and closing down all buildings that do not have the necessary approvals from KCCA” reads the statement from the authority.
The building collapse was attributed to the poor reinforcement of slabs in the building. A slab is a concrete hardened ring of steel bars wrapped together. Slabs are used to reinforce building floors and ceiling walls.
Asiimwe Majorie, an independent architect, said that the major reason a slab would collapse would be because of poor reinforcement, a deficiency majorly caused by insufficiency in steel bars used to make the concrete slab.
The statement released by KCCA seems to confirm fears that the building slabs could have been poorly reinforced.
When contacted, KCCA publicist Peter Kaujju declined to discuss the matter deeper but said that the authority will continue to crack down on buildings that do not have the necessary documentation required from KCCA.
A KCCA white lock strip number 017759 has been placed at the front door of the building to signify a closure of the building.
The tenants could not easily be reached for comment on the matter by press time.
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