KATHMANDU, May 21: A team of the Nepal Army (NA), Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force (APF) and a group of Gulf returnees have started a joint task of pulling down multi-storey buildings at Sitapaila, using techniques practiced for the first time in Nepal.
The joint team took the new initiatives at a time when authorities in Kathmandu are in a state of confusion about how to begin the herculean task of demolishing hundreds of buildings that were severely damaged by earthquakes in and outside the capital city and now pose a safety hazard.
Some army and police officers, who were frantically trying various alternatives to demolish some buildings, took the initiative after they came in contact with those who had demolished multi-storey buildings in the Gulf countries when they worked there as migrants.
NA Major Bishwa Bandhu Pahadi, who is tasked with assessing, demolishing and clearing the debris in the Sitapaila area, said that they were under tremendous pressure from the locals to pull down some buildings that posed a threat to other houses in the vicinity.
“Several teams inspected these buildings upon our request but none of them could take up the challenge, citing a lack of technology and required expertise,” Pahadi told Republica at the demolition site.
While they were relentlessly searching out various options, they came into contact with some individuals who said confidently that they could do the job easily and prescribed a list of equipment needed for the task.
“When we saw the buildings requiring demolition and the vicinity, we found that it was not so challenging because we had pulled down such multi-storey buildings in Arab countries as part of our regular job,” said Harka Shrestha, who was in Saudi Arabia for some years. “We got the go-ahead after we convinced all those concerned.”
Army, police, Gulf returnees try new techniques to demolish bui...
In the Arab countries, buildings become damaged in around 30 years due to salty water, and need demolition.
After inspection, Harka and Suraj Shrestha gathered their team of experts and others who had done similar work in the Gulf.
On Wednesday, Pragatimukh Street near Swyambhu was crowded as groups of security personnel gathered near the four-storey building that has been looming over the other structures ever since it was badly damaged on April 25.
The security personnel first hooked the building’s top floors with metal wires that are tied to metal lic planks planted into the ground inside a pit. The planks can withstand 20 tons of weight.
As a three-story house was also severely damaged adjacent to the four-story building, the team at first demolished the smaller one. For that, they didn’t need special techniques.
“We demolished the smaller house and have now set up a ramp on its debris for placing the excavator and cutting down the structure of the bigger building into pieces,” said Harka Shrestha.
After arranging the set up, they plan to tear down the top floors using a breaker, an equipment that smashes concrete structures.
He said they can demolish the building without causing any damage to adjoining buildings. As per their initial assessment, it will take around three days to demolish such a building.
“If we succeed in this task, it will set the course for us to demolish all the precarious buildings in Kathmandu and other parts of the country,” said NA Major Pahadi.
In the meantime, the team has already ordered two slab cutters from Korea so that breaking concrete buildings will be easier and faster.
The team is also confident of successfully carrying out the demolition tasks if the government provides them all the necessary equipment and other resources in time.
An army officer overseeing the task said the public has high expectations of the security forces because of ambitious statements coming from top government officials.
“But on the ground, we are compelled to work with very limited resources and equipment,” said the army officer preferring anonymity.
They said over 200 individuals with similar work experience in the Gulf are in contact them and are interested in taking up the challenge.
The new method is not only cost-effective and speedy but also ensures safety for those involved in the task.
While the local working style requires workers to demolish the structures while just standing on the demolished surface, workers using the new methods can work from a distance, with the help of equipment and safety belts.
Even if there is no space to hook the damaged building and create a ramp, they first box the building and demolish it from the top, using lifting equipment.
But the experts right now can’t demolish high-rise buildings due to lack of technology and the equipment required.
“With the equipment that we have right now, we can only pull down buildings of four or five-stories,” said Tara Bahadur Kuwar, president of Nepal Heavy Equipment Entrepreneurs Association.
He said that his organization can gather all the heavy equipment used at various projects across the country in Kathmandu if the government formally sought their support for the task at this time of disaster.
Around 6,000 pieces of heavy equipment have been used in various parts of the country for construction work and they can gather them in Kathmandu as and when the government demands.
As per the government assessment, at least 1,500 buildings have posed a threat to the public and require to be demolished immediately. Over 50,000 complaints have been registered seeking demolition of such buildings in Kathmandu alone.
According to him, at least 93 pieces of heavy equipment are being used in Kathmandu alone since April 25.
“But the government is not giving due recognition to our efforts even as we have been doing all this work voluntarily,” said Kuwar.
