The exercise which is expected to commence this month would be carried out within three months. Mr Edward Mensah Sanjok, Supervising Civil Engineer at the TDC, announcing this at a media briefing on Tuesday, said the 48 Engineers were chosen for the job after careful consideration.

MrSanjok explained that they had the competence, equipment, and experience to carry out the demolition without any complications.  He indicated that the exercise would be a careful demolish in which the structures would be erasedin phases and from top to bottom.

The four phases of the demolition would commence with the salvaging of materials and reusable components during which occupants and residents wouldbe allowed salvage valuables from the structure.

The second phase would see the collapsing of the structures through the use of mechanized earth moving equipment such as hammer, excavators, bull dozers and pay loaders.  Other flats which were near the 407, 408,410 and 415flats to be demolished, would also be shored under the second phase.

He added that phase three would see to the cutting of all steel and reinforcements with the use of oxygen-acetylene torch and other pneumatic cutters. The last phase would involve the hauling of debris off the site to a designated dumping site.

MrSanjok added that the place would be redeveloped under the Tema redeveloped projects while management of TDC would consider a total demolition of the remaining 10 flats which would not be affected by the current exercise. He explained that even though all the 14 flats were put up around the same time in the 1960s for workers, the four earmarked for demolishing had deteriorated so badly that it could collapse on its own, a situation which could lead to loss of lives and properties.

He added that the structure of the four flats which had 85 apartments could not hold due to the serious structural cracks in the slabs, beams, and columns, noting that “some of the main bars in some portions of the external longitudinal beams have no concrete cover and have corroded”.

Officials of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) commended TDC for following due process which included getting an environmental permit and potential impact assessment for the demolition.

The EPA, based on the assessment done, had drawn out mitigation measures for the various identified possible impact to ensure a smooth exercise before, during and after.  The needed insurance packages had also been signed with Glico Insurance Company to provide protection for workers as well as third party persons.