India fixates on tower implosions

Throughout the year, media coverage in India has been thorough regarding the end of a prolonged court battle and, eventually, preparations to implode two 40-story unfinished buildings known as the Noida Supertech twin towers.

A timeline of the ill-fated towers, prepared by The Hindu shows developer Supertech spent years revising and adding to its plans to build on land it had acquired in the Noida section of New Delhi.

A 2012 revision that called for two towers to be built to 40 stories high was battled in court by residents and owners of nearby properties.

As early as 2014, a court in India ordered demolition of the still under-construction towers. It was not until late August of last year, however, that the Supreme Court of India ordered “demolition within three months.” The court cited violations including “violation of rules like minimum 16-meter (52 feet) distance between buildings and the new construction coming up in [an] area marked for green space,” according to The Hindu.

After delays and an implosion target date in May that was not met, the unfinished towers came down Aug. 28 with the use of some 8,150 pounds of explosives, according to The Week.

That publication indicates the towers became the tallest structures in the nation’s history to undergo demolition. The Week also indicates about 5,000 nearby residents and their 200 or so pets were temporarily evacuated before the implosion process took place. “The closest buildings next to twin towers are Aster 2 and Aster 3 of Emerald Court society, which are just nine meters [less than 30 feet] away,” the report says.

From the implosion scene, The Times of India quotes Ritu Maheshwari, CEO of the Noida Authority, as saying the implosion was successful and was quickly followed by cleaning work and air quality monitoring activities.

It quotes a staff member of Mumbai-based contractor Edifice Engineering as saying, “I was just 70 meters (230 feet) away from the building. The demolition was 100 percent successful. It took 9 or 10 seconds for the entire building to demolish. There were 10 people in my team, including seven foreign experts, and 20 to 25 people from Edifice Engineering.”

According to media reports, South Africa-based Jet Demolition Ltd. was the foreign subcontractor with implosion experience that took part in the project.

A video of the implosion from three different angles can be viewed here.