allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Bol Building Still Poses Danger (Page 1 of 1)

After two years of dangerous standing, residents and nearby business operators say the fear of the partially collapsed Bank of Industry building is the beginning of safety on the Lagos Island.

STAN OKENWA reports that lack of funds and equipment have continued to derail every demolition bid till date.

When eight of its topmost floors caved in on Wednesday March, 22, 2006, Lagos residents and real sector observers believed that the entire complex of the Bank of Industry (BoI) situated on Broad Street, Lagos Island will be demolished in no time.

But two years on, dumping of several demolition plans for the 22 floors high rise is not helping matters. Today, the structure is regarded as a time bomb waiting for self demolition or the state government. It is on record that shortly after its partial collapse; a floor-by-floor strategy to avoid additional losses was prescribed.

This idea was the submission of the committee on Inventory and Audit of High rise Buildings on Lagos Island, an adhoc body set up by the state government to track the problem then. The secretary of the committee, Mr. Yusuf Sulaimon in 2006, revealed that the range of machines for the floor-by-floor demolition would be shipped in from Germany. He confirmed his committee's readiness to supervise the demolition exercise if only the BoI management can give them a feedback on the actual period of demolition.

Sulaimon decried the delay in demolishing the federal government's building several months after its collapse. It would be recalled that the few efforts of the federal government to flatten the house between 2006 and first half of 2007 were fraught with cash crunch and logistic failures.

A twist came up in July 2007 when governor Babatunde Raji Fashola got the wind of plans by BoI to "sell the structure as it is", having moved to the former Ministry of External Affairs complex on Marina. He swiftly descended on the bank and revoked the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of the embattled house thereby transferring the legal ownership to the state. State government sources made it clear that the governor's decision to revoke the C of O was not unconnected with the fact that the bank of industry has not demonstrated enough drive to completely demolish the building which poses danger to the public.

The governor had relied on section 28 of the 1978 Land Use Act and section 74 of the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Laws, which vest in the state chief executive, powers to take possession of any dangerous building or facility in the over all public interest. The feat generated serious controversy during which the National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress (AC), Alhaji Lai Mohammed argued that the governor was right to have acted fast over an issue of public interest and safety. "Don't forget that the state has a duty to demolish the building to ensure it does not constitute public health and safety hazards", he reasoned.

This position was corroborated by the state Ministry of Physical Planning when it argued that "the state has waited for too long for the bank".

A source in the bank recently told Daily Champion that "earlier efforts to level the structure failed due to high charges given by bidders'.

The military had since last year sealed up the premises and adjoining buildings due to fears of total collapse. All connecting routes around it were sealed with a 24 hours military surveillance till date. This move further displaced genuine business concerns and residents who ordinarily would not have been affected if the structure had been downed.

But a senior engineer with the construction giant, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. told our reporter on condition of anonymity that though the scarcity of funds stopped the initial N15.4 billion floor-by-floor demolition bid in 2006, the best technology for the job remains implosion. "Implosion is a technological process whereby implosive devices are applied to effect an inward collapse of a standing structure", he explained, adding that the technology is very expensive, he believed the method would guarantee the safety of nearby buildings more than any other.

Earlier in January 2008, speculation has it that the state government, now saddled with the demolition responsibility following the July revocation may have secured the services of another German construction giant, Messer's TVF GmBH to ground the same property. According to the demolition specifications given by the firm, the time-frame will span across 25 weeks; that is beginning from the time site equipments arrive.

In details, TVF GmBH estimates two weeks clearing away the slack parts and cutting the slack hanging parts; two weeks of clearing away of the upper floors to a height of 40 metres; three weeks of the demolition of the roof sector and the floors around the core to a height of 40 metres; two weeks for the core to a height of 40 metres; 12 weeks for the transportation of the deconstruction debris and final clearing of the area. Government however, did not make public, the estimates of the preferred bidder. But due to the unpredictability of the situation, the handling firm said "there is no guarantee that nearby buildings within a radius of 35-50 metres will be safe during the exercise.

However, local demolition experts say they would have been equal to the task but for lack of equipment. Lagos-based structural engineer and the immediate past president of the Nigerian Institute of Structural Engineers (NIStrucE), Mr. Kunle Adebajo believes "Nigerian experts are competent to pull down the structure but for lack of equipment". Last weeks visit to the scene shows that the axis is dead in terms of business activities and sighted rescue ready military officers on guard say the state of the area is a big blow to displaced business operators and the value of numerous properties within the wing on Broad Street has slumped.

One of them fears if the embattled building may survive the approaching rainy season even though he traced the core course of the collapse to an inferno that touched the house earlier on Monday 20th May 2006. Efforts to get the present position of the state government on the actual time of demolition failed. Now, Lagos Islanders say "the fear of the BoI building is the beginning of safety on the financial nerve centre of the state"

Their position according to contacted displaced citizens is based on the fact that no definite time of demolition has been given by the state government or the handling firms, TVF GmBH of Germany AND MESSERS High-Tech and wreckers South Africa.

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