By Praise Chinecherem
Twin four storey buildings have been marked for demolition at Amobi street in Onitsha South local government area of Anambra State to avert imminent deaths and casualties.
The decked portion of one of the buildings had earlier collapsed following poor and use of sub standard materials for the project.
The two buildings located about one foot close to each other are currently witnessing cracked pillars and weak decking, a development that led to the order for demolition.
About a month ago the two buildings had been marked for demolition but the owners allegedly erased the demolition marks while heavy business activities were going on at the ground floor of those buildings.
It was equally observed that the contractors had already constructed another set of slabs preparatory for the decking of the fifth floor despite the demolition order and the two contractors on getting the wind that the local government council would be visiting the area fled to an unknown destinations.
Speaking during the inspection of the site, Chairman of Onitsha South local government area Chief Emeka Joseph Orji expressed worries that despite the order by government about a month ago , people chose to risk their lives doing business under a death trap.
โThe two buildings must go down in the next two days and that is the order and remember that Gov Charles Soludo had directed that all building plans must personally get his approval before construction but these two buildings do not have the approval of the governor.
โWe must do this to save the lives of our people and also avert possible deaths and casualties that has always been the results of collapsed buildings.
โLook at the materials that they are using and you all saw that the back of the building where the two storey decking has already collapsed and we used the tape to block the entrance of the two buildings but they removed it and cleaned up the marks for demolition, โ he said.
The two shops with over 800 shops reportedly paid for by traders before the completion of the project is said to have been sold to successive landlords before they were marked for demolition.
It would be recalled that three buildings had within three months, collapsed in the commercial city, claiming no fewer than eight persons with state government clearing the debris and take over the area.
