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BANK
OF INDUSTRY BUILDING PULLED DOWN
From Raymond Tedunjaye, Lagos__________________________
The partially burnt
and collapsing 18-storey building of the Bank Of Industry (BOI) in
Lagos was pulled down by the State Government, while the State
Executive Council and other dignitaries witnessed the historic
event.
The demolition of the building which occurred at exactly 11am had
generated lots of controversy between Federal Government agencies
and Lagos State government over who will pull it down and take-over
the control since March 2006. But it was finally demolished through
explosives.
The State governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola who led the state
government executive council, traditional rulers, past governors of
the state, stakeholders and newsmen assembled at a parking space
provided along the Inner Marina Street, opposite the popular ‘King
Side’ as early as 7am to witness the demolition.
Officials of the demolition firms, Hi-tech Construction Coy Ltd and
Wreckers Dismantling Limited were seen giving instructions so as to
have smooth exercise, while security outfits comprising of
stern-looking mobile policemen, soldiers, security operatives of the
Central Business District (CBD) and others mounted guard against
loitering and business activities in the area during the exercise.
Also, all roads leading to the building situated at Broad Street
were cordoned off by the security men to prevent motorists from
plying the area.
Engineer Lizelle Botha the builder and civil engineer of Hi-tech
Construction Coy Ltd and Wreckers Dismantling Limited that carried
out the demolition disclosed to our correspondent before the
exercise that 5, 900 explosives had been planted inside the
dilapidated structure to make the pulling down easy and less noisy.
According to her, the two firms have made lots of findings and tests
on the building for the past two months on how to pull it down
without any hitch, assuring that all the unexpected possibilities
have been taken care of.
Also speaking before the demolition, Barry Ames, the Structural
Engineer who is also the Technical Manager for both Hi-tech
Construction Coy Ltd and Wreckers Dismantling Limited said,
“We will blast it down and not up. The blast would be particularly
loud because of the explosives that have been put inside the
building. Due to the vibration in the ground, the building would
collapse and soften the blow on the ground.”
He stressed further, “from the collapse of the building there would
be vibration set up in the ground and very shortly it travels out.
We have do calculation and it should not done damage to any other
surrounding buildings. There’s possibility that windows of adjoining
buildings could be cracked. That we can’t do nothing about”.
“This is the first of its kind in West Africa. It has been carried
out in South Africa, China, USA, Australia and other parts of the
world. It would take 12 weeks to remove the relics,” he said.
It was reliably gathered that the State government contracted the
demolition to the Hitech and later joined Wreckers Dismantling
Company as sub-contractors for the exercise that took only three
seconds.
Speaking after the demolition, Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji
Fashola said the state government had planned with two percent
marginal error but the exercise has been flawless. Not even a glass
in the church near-by was shattered.
He said Julius Berger would move in and continue with the Central
Building District (CBD) work that was stopped when the building
collapsed.
He explained that the state government opted for international
experts because it could not find any expert locally.
Fashola who was full of happiness with the outcome expressed, “I am
thankful that it has happened without any life lost, that was my
primary consideration and the primary consideration of my
colleagues. What is to be done now is to clear the rubbles and to
restore normalcy here. We thank God it happened as we planned. As I
said, we planned for the worst, we hoped for the best and I think
the best has come through”.
The Special Adviser to the governor on CBD, Chief Oyinlomo Danmole
disclosed that the state government had made provision of $150m
insurance for property owners within the radius of 15,500 sq. metres
from the BOI building.
“Provisions have been made for property owners in the area.
Residents have been moved to a camp. If there’s no damage they would
come back to their property but if there is, there is insurance,” he
said.
It would be recalled that the building which partially collapsed on
March 22nd, 2006 caused rift between the then governor of Lagos
State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former chairman of the BOI
board, Chief Olabode George who deployed some military men as guard
to the building with instruction that any official of the state
government that visited the place should be dealt with.Chief George
also sent warning to Tinubu not to make any attempt to acquire the
building as BOI intended to rehabilitate it for use. |
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