This archive report was first published on 1 September 2019.
On September 1, 2019, the National Construction Authority (NCA) suspended renovations on two restaurant outlets in Nairobi's city centre.
The suspended outlets, located opposite each other on Kimathi Street, belonged to Java House and Artcaffe, two prominent restaurant chains in the region.
According to NCA chief executive Maurice Aketch, the two chains did not have the necessary approvals from the agency and the Nairobi County Government for the fit-ins and refurbishments they were undertaking.
Aketch gave the two chains 14 days to obtain the relevant licenses, paving the way for the works to resume.
The suspended renovations were part of ambitious expansion plans by Java House and Artcaffe, with the latter's planned outlet in the CBD being part of a larger plan by US private equity firm Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) to aggressively expand its presence in the region.
Efforts by Business Daily to reach out to the two chains for comment on the closures were unsuccessful at the time of going to press.
