KARACHI: Two out of four firms have been shortlisted for demolition of Nasla Tower by a committee formed by the city administration, it emerged on Sunday.

Well-placed sourced told Dawn that the committee, headed by Deputy Commissioner of district East Asif Jan Siddiqui, had recommended two firms, one for demolishing the 15-storey building through implosion via controlled explosives and the other through conventional and manual-cum-machinery methods.

The sources said that the committee shortlisted ANI Enterprises for demolition of the building by way of manual-cum-machinery usage. The company had told the committee that it would complete the task within three months and it would not charge anything for demolition, but claim the material to recover its expenses through retrieved steel and other valuable material and items.

They said that the company told the meeting that it would rather pay an amount of Rs15 million for the material, which would be shifted from the site by them.

One company is ready to demolish the building manually without charging money

The sources said that company, which had earlier demolished multi-storey Royal Park Plaza and Aladdin Park buildings, also assured that it would take safety measures by covering the building with green plastic/nylon net sheets.

They said that the committee recommended the firm for demolition of the Nasla Tower keeping in view its experience and capacity and the fact that it was rather paying then taking any money for demolition of the tower, which could be used for compensation to the dispossessed residents of the building.

The second firm was Hi-Tech Electronics, a joint venture with a UAE-based company, which was recommended by the committee for controlled implosion.

The sources said that the company presented it profile to the committee and shared a sequence for building demolition using explosives. The company also ensured that would adopt all safety standards in demolition process. It would submit cost of demolition on Monday (today), they added.

They said another firm, Tabani Enterprises, showed interest in demolition of building by way of implosion, but it apparently lacked knowledge of the method. The firm, in joint venture with a Chinese company, said that their partners could come in for assessment of the building in 10 to 20 days and they would take further 15 to 20 days to assess the building.

They said that another firm, Mir Enterprise, showed interest in machine-cum-manual demolition of the building. They said that the firm had experience of demolishing a six-storey building in Quetta and it said it would complete the demolition within three months.

The firm also offered to charge nothing for demolition but debris of the building, they added.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2021