At your own risk: CDA approves demolition of Margalla Towers structure

Civic agency asks firm to adopt latest techniques to avoid any mishap.

ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has granted permission to a firm to demolish the leftover structure of Margalla Towers with the condition that the contractor takes responsibility for any untoward incident during demolition.

The demolish work will be completed within six months time.

The eyesore in F-10 serves as a constant source of pain and distress for families who lost their loved ones when it collapsed during the 2005 earthquake, and many would breathe a sigh of relief if the plan goes ahead.

On June 8, 2012, the firm offered the highest bid of Rs 141,000 per square yard — Rs1.65 billion in total — against the plot and to remove the debris and remains of the partially-collapsed structure.

“The firm was warned when the land and the collapsed building was auctioned on “as-is-where-is basis” that it must remove the leftover structure at its own expense and risk,” CDA Chairman Syed Tahir Shahbaz told The Express Tribune.

He said that the firm had been asked to adopt latest building demolishing technique to avoid any mishap.

The total area that is to be demolished from the basement to the 10th floor is approximately 291,063 square feet.



Half of the Margalla Towers complex came down in the 2005 earthquake, claiming 74 lives.

“After the earthquake, area residents have continuously been demanding that the CDA remove the leftover structure, as it has become a hideout for anti-social elements including drug addicts,” a Building Control Department official said.

The CDA floated bids for demolition in 2008, but the contract was delayed as the demolition work involved a lot of risk.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan, while taking suo moto note of the matter, had directed the civic body to pay Rs 1.75 billion as compensation to the owners of some 75 residential apartments of the building.

Later, in the light of the Supreme Court accounts adjustment case, it transpired that the actual amount paid by the CDA was Rs1.66 billion rather than Rs1.75, as directed by the court.

The 11,750 square yards Margalla Towers plot, along with the leftover structure, was presented for auction several times, but never fetched a bid in line with the expectations of city managers.

In 2009, a bidder offered Rs1.35 billion for the plot and structure, but the CDA Board turned down the bid offer saying the amount offered was less than the compensation it had paid to victims.

The plot has now been marked for the construction of a new residential apartment complex with a shopping mall on the ground floor.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2013.