ISLAMABAD, May 25: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has turned its back on hundreds of tons of debris of the Margalla Towers which is being demolished by a private company.

The civic authority has failed to provide any proper dumping site and waste disposal guidelines to the company removing the damaged structures.

Margalla Tower’s half structure came down during the October 8, 2005, earthquake, leaving 74 people dead.

“This is a concrete solid waste and needs proper disposal. Initially, the contractor was not given any directions or guidelines by the authority relating to the removal of the concrete,” said an official of the authority.

He added that the solid waste was being thrown close to the greenbelt alongside the wall of Fatima Jinnah Park in F-9.

The official maintained that since Islamabad had no proper waste disposal site, disposal of the tower’s debris at any site would cost the authority heavily.

A finance wing official while talking to Dawn said the civic agency would have to spend a huge sum on the removal of the concrete waste from any location and shift it out of the city. It is the job of the contractor to dispose of the waste out of the city, he contended.

“We have sold the land along with the structure for Rs1.65 billion and if we start removing the leftover of the Margalla Tower it will be a costly venture for us,” maintained the finance wing official.

Commenting on the sale of the Margalla Tower land and structure, the finance wing official said on June 8, 2012, the private company had given the highest bid of Rs1.65 billion for the plot and removal of the debris, including the remains of the partially-collapsed tower.

The 11,750 square yards Margalla Towers plot, along with the leftover structure, was presented for auction several times but it could not fetch a bid in line with the expectations of the CDA board. In 2009, a private firm had offered Rs1.35 billion for the plot and structure. Thetotal area that is to be demolished from the basement to the 10th floor is approximately 291,063 square feet.

An official of the finance wing said the CDA Board had turned down the 2009 bid on the ground that the amount offered was less than the compensation the civic agency paid to the heirs of the victims of the Margalla Towers collapse.

It may be noted that the civic agency paid Rs1.75 billion to the heirs of the victims on the directions of the Supreme Court. The plot has now been marked for the construction of a new residential complex with a shopping mall on the ground floor.

According to an environment wing official, during the last one decade the authority’s environment directorate issued no objection certificates to contractors of private residential unit builders who dumped the rubble of the old houses into mullahs of the capital city.

“And in the case of Margalla Tower, if the building material is thrown anywhere in the city it will not be an environment-friendly activity,” said the official.

However, when approached, CDA member environment Ahsan Ali Mangi said: “We have not given any permission to the contractor for throwing the building waste anywhere in the city. The contractor is yet to come up with a request for the disposal of the tower waste.”

Mr Mangi said: “The authority will do all the financial costing and only then will allow the contractor to throw the solid waste at a proper site which is in a depression.”

The official said his department had already cancelled all the NOCs issued to private contractors for throwing solid waste in the nullahs. “No one is allowed to throw solid waste in the nullahs.”

He asserted: “We are attentive and rest assured that the solid waste of the Magalla Towers will not be left in the open or thrown on the greenbelts.”